Son of Kenyan Cult Leader Says Younger Siblings Were Still Being Forced to Fast

The eldest son of Kenyan cult leader Paul Mackenzie says his younger siblings were recently subjected to forced fasting, prompting him to report the situation to police.

Dan Mackenzie, 27, told the BBC that authorities rescued eight children, including his five younger siblings, from their grandmother’s house and took them to a rescue centre. He said the children had been denied food for almost three days.

Father Convicted in 191 Deaths

Paul Mackenzie was found guilty of murdering 190 children and one adult who died from starvation in Shakahola Forest, near Kenya’s coast. Prosecutors said he directed followers of his doomsday cult to starve themselves and their children in the belief that they would meet Jesus.

Twenty-eight other cult leaders were also convicted of murder. During the proceedings, the court heard accounts of extreme fasting, physical abuse and teachings that rejected formal education and modern medicine.

Son Speaks Out About His Childhood

Dan said he had struggled initially to understand the allegations against his father but came to recognise the scale of the tragedy during the court proceedings.

He recalled being forced to fast for almost a week when he was 12 and said church members had beaten him for hours to make him attend services. He left school at the age of seven.

Now living in Malindi, Dan works as a motorcycle taxi driver to support himself and his younger siblings. He said reporting relatives who continued to follow the cult’s teachings was necessary to protect the children.

More Legal Cases Ahead

Judge Diana Mochache said Mackenzie’s followers viewed him as a messenger of Jesus. The court also heard disturbing accounts of how deaths were presented within the group as a spiritual union with Jesus.

The murder convictions are the first ruling on the most serious charges against Mackenzie, who was arrested in 2023 after more than 400 bodies were discovered in shallow graves in Shakahola Forest.

Mackenzie and other leaders face separate cases involving terrorism, radicalisation and denying children an education. He is due to be sentenced on November 6.

BBC News