Kenyan judge begins delivering verdict in Paul Mackenzie mass murder trial

A judge in Kenya has started delivering the verdict in a mass murder case involving doomsday preacher Paul Mackenzie, BBC News reported. Mackenzie and 29 of his followers are charged with the murder of 191 people. BBC News reported that all but one of the victims were children. [1]

According to BBC News, the cult allegedly forced children to starve to death so that they could meet Jesus. Mackenzie instructed followers that education was forbidden and that modern medicine was evil. Mackenzie and his 29 co-defendants have pleaded not guilty, repeatedly stating that nobody was forced to die. [1]

BBC News reported that Mackenzie's former head of security, Enos Amanya Ngala, was originally an accused party in the case. He later entered a plea agreement and became a witness for the prosecution. [1]

Mackenzie founded the Good News International Ministries with his first wife in 2003. The movement, also known as the Shakahola cult, was based in Shakahola, Kilifi County, Kenya. Following the deaths of more than 400 members and their children, the Kenyan government designated the group as an organized criminal group. [2]