Mombasa190 of the 191 people murdered were children.
Kenya’s rights commission said in 2024 that investigating Paul Mackenzie’s 2017 arrest would have saved lives.
The pastor ordered followers to fast to death, and armed guards strangled or clubbed those who refused, the commission found.
“All six of my children died in Shakahola forest,” said Stephen Mwiti, a father from Malindi.
Mackenzie is sentenced on 6 November and still faces terrorism charges and a case over 52 more deaths.
How each outlet framed it
drawn from 150+ reports worldwide
- Punch Newspapers leans critical
- reports the judge's framing that burials called 'weddings' and gravediggers paid as little as $8 a day
- Aol leans critical
- notes the defendant's 'no education, modern medicine evil' doctrine and a pregnant witness barred from nursing her newborn
- The Jerusalem Post leans critical
- ties the case to Kenyan authorities' failings and the president's view that deaths should have been prevented
Sources: Punch Newspapers, Aol, The Jerusalem Post