A Kenyan preacher who allegedly encouraged followers to starve themselves and their children in the belief that they would reach heaven has been found guilty of 191 murder charges, according to ABC News Australia. Pastor Paul Mackenzie was convicted alongside 28 others accused of helping run a religious sect linked to his Good News International Church.
The case stems from the Shakahola massacre, in which hundreds of people died after joining Mackenzie’s community in a forest in coastal Kenya. In her ruling, High Court Judge Diana Kavedza said the preacher and his associates used religious teachings and a church hierarchy to enforce what prosecutors described as “deadly fasting.”
