Kenya cult leader's children still being starved weeks before trial, son says

ByBasma El Atti Reporting fromNairobi. 20 October 2026, 12: 59 BST.

Key points

• His father was discovered guilty on Monday of murdering 190 children and one adult who starved to death in Shakahola forest, near the Kenyan coast.
• Delivering her eight-hour judgment in the port city of Mombasa, Justice Diana Mochache remarked Mackenzie's followers believed he was "Jesus's mouthpiece".
• Kenya cult leader who informed parents to starve children guilty of 191 murders.
• "When I was 12, I was forced to fast for almost a week, " he notes.
• Now living in the coastal town of Malindi, Dan earns a living as a motorcycle taxi driver, supporting himself and his younger siblings.

Notably, the eldest son of Kenyan cult leader Paul Mackenzie, convicted of murdering 191 individuals, states his younger siblings were still being forced to fast as lately as two weeks ago.

Dan Mackenzie, 27, remarked he noted the case to police. This person rescued eight children, including his five younger siblings from their grandmother's house, and took them to a rescue centre.

"They were basically forcibly fasted because they were denying food to them for almost three days, " he tells BBC's Newsday.

He had ordered members of his doomsday cult to starve themselves and their children to death so they could "meet Jesus". Twenty-eight other cult leaders were additionally convicted of murder.

Dan Mackenzie, who had initially defended his father, remarked at first he had struggled to understand the allegations against the cult leader, but came to realise the scale of the tragedy during the court proceedings.

"When I was 12, I was forced to fast for almost a week, " he notes. He additionally remembers church members beating him for hours to produce him attend a service as a child.

Now, he notes he felt he had to report family members who still believe in the teachings so as to free his siblings. "I had to report my grandmother."

According to The cult leader's doctrine, education was forbidden and modern medicine was "evil". "I left school when I was seven, " notes Dan.

He remarked some residents in the town had been angry with him since of his father's crimes, but others "had accepted him because he had distanced himself from that life".

"I hope the verdict would bring some comfort to those who had lost friends and relatives, " Dan tells BBC's Newsday.

On Monday, Stephen Mwiti, 48. This person remarked he had lost all six of his children to the cult, welcomed the verdict.

"I'm a happy man, that all persons have been convicted, " he informed the BBC outside court.

His former wife was one of those convicted of murder alongside Mackenzie.

One of his co-accused informed the court that Mackenzie had stated anyone who resisted fasting must be forced to go to heaven "through kicks and blows".

Burials in the forest where the cult was based were described as "weddings", with those who died celebrated as having "wedded with Jesus", the judge remarked.

Mackenzie and other cult leaders additionally face separate cases involving terrorism, radicalisation and denying children an education.

In practice, the murder verdict is the first ruling on the most serious charges against the pastor. This person was arrested in 2023 after more than 400 bodies were discovered in shallow graves in Shakahola forest, near Kenya's coast. He is due to be sentenced on 6 November. Extra reporting by Thomas Mukhwana. More regarding the cult from the BBC.

'I fear for my sons': Mother awaits DNA results on remains linked to Kenya's starvation cult. What did the Kenyan starvation cult leader preach? Kenya cult targeted children to starve first – pastor. The mother who fled a death cult to save her children.

Go to BBCAfrica.com, external for more news from the African continent.

Taken together, the developments around kenya cult leader' s children still being starved weeks before trial, son says point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.