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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Elle Hardy

Australian Christian group fights claim it was linked to leader of Kenya starvation massacre doomsday cult

Paul Mackenzie, who is accused of causing the death of hundreds of people, including children, by starvation and violence in Kenya’s Shakahola forest
Paul Mackenzie, who is accused of causing the death of hundreds of people, including children, by starvation and violence in Kenya’s Shakahola forest. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

A Christian doomsday cult responsible for the deaths of more than 400 people from starvation and beatings in Kenya was influenced by an Australian religious group, a parliamentary committee report in the east African nation has found.

The report into the Shakahola massacre, tabled in the Kenyan Senate on 19 October, found that the accused leader of the group, Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, “was influenced by Dave Mackay and Sherry Mackay [Dave and Cherry McKay] from Australia who are founders of a cult movement known as the Voice in the Desert”.

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