Kenya cult leader Paul Mackenzie sentenced to 200 years

A self-proclaimed pastor and longstanding leader of a new age Christian apocalyptic cult called the Good News International Church, Mackenzie was convicted in October of 191 counts of murder in the deaths of one adult and 190 children. Justice Diana Kavedza said the sentence was comprised of 100 years for 183 counts of murder by starvation and another 100 years for eight counts of murder by direct homicide.

Massacre details

While the charges against Mackenzie pertained to 191 deaths, some 400 people were found dead in what became known as the "Shakahola Forest Massacre." Mackenzie's so-called church had been operating since 2003, based in the coastal town of Malindi. More than 60 of the bodies were positively identified and reburied by their relatives, but many of the remains were so decomposed that they could not be identified or claimed.

He could have faced the death penalty, which is still technically on the books in Kenya.

Accomplices sentenced

A total of 28 accomplices were given various prison sentences for their roles in the deaths. They included guards who enforced his fasting directives and gravediggers who helped conceal the dead in shallow graves. Among them was Mackenzie's assistant "pastor," Smart Mwakalama, who was sentenced to 160 years.

Judge Kavedza dismissed the argument from some of the accused that the fact they had lost their own children altered the nature of their involvement in the deaths of others.