Stephen Mwiti has welcomed the conviction of Kenyan cult leader Paul Mackenzie, but says the 200-year prison sentence will not bring back his six children, who died after being taken into the Shakahola Forest by their mother.
Mackenzie was sentenced on Friday, November 6, after being convicted of murdering 191 people, including 190 children and one adult, in one of Kenya’s deadliest cult-related tragedies.
Mwiti’s former wife, who had followed Mackenzie since 2015, took their six children to the forest in 2022. All of them died, but only one, seven-year-old Samuel, has been identified and buried.
“Even if he is hanged, I will never see my children again,” Mwiti told Reuters, reflecting on the loss that has left him with only one grave to visit.
The Shakahola tragedy came to light in April 2023, when authorities began recovering bodies from mass graves in a forest near Malindi, a coastal town in eastern Kenya. Investigators eventually recovered more than 400 bodies, many of them children.
Mackenzie’s Good News International Church had encouraged followers to stop eating in the belief that fasting would allow them to meet Jesus. Prosecutors said the practice was enforced through threats, violence and intimidation, with children among those who died.
Mwiti’s family was among those affected. He had initially believed his wife was also among the missing and dead. However, during court proceedings in March 2025, he came face to face with her after she appeared as a witness. She was later charged and convicted alongside Mackenzie and other members of the group.
The High Court in Mombasa sentenced Mackenzie to two consecutive 100-year prison terms for murder by starvation and direct homicide. Twenty-eight co-accused were also convicted and received prison sentences ranging from 10 to 160 years.
Forensic examinations showed that some victims died from strangulation, suffocation and head injuries. Samuel was among the children whose deaths raised questions about the claim that followers had willingly participated in the fasting.
Mackenzie and his co-accused have maintained that no one was forced to die.
Although Mwiti said he was relieved that those responsible had been convicted, the fate of many victims remains unresolved. Only a small number of the recovered bodies had been identified by the time of sentencing, leaving families waiting for answers about their missing relatives.
