Shakahola: Kenya tries Paul Mackenzie and thirty co-defendants for the deaths of 191 children

The Mombasa High Court in Kenya was scheduled to deliver its judgment this Monday, October 19, 2026, in the trial of preacher Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and about thirty co-defendants, who are being prosecuted for the murder of 191 children whose bodies were exhumed from shallow graves in the Shakahola forest, Kilifi County. The hearing was set for 9:30 a.m. local time before Judge Diana Kavedza, according to Capital FM. At the time of publication, the content of the decision was not known.

All the defendants deny the charges. Their number varies according to sources: thirty co-defendants according to Capital FM and RFI, twenty-nine according to allAfrica. Mackenzie, founder of the Good News International Church, also faces separate proceedings for manslaughter and terrorism, RFI recalls. In February 2026, he was charged in connection with 52 bodies found in a neighboring village, according to Al Jazeera.

Three years later, families without burials

The case broke in March 2023, when a man reported that relatives who had left to join a new church were not returning. Excavations near Malindi uncovered hundreds of graves. A senate commission recorded 428 exhumed bodies in October 2023; the total has now reached 446, according to RFI.

The heaviest burden lies elsewhere: out of 443 bodies and fragments kept at the Malindi morgue, only 34 have been identified by DNA. Alice Mwajuma Deche, 66, buried a relative in May 2026 who was identified more than three years after her disappearance; she lost two children and ten grandchildren, and is still searching for eleven members of her family. Francis Wanje, whose eight-year-old grandson was the first survivor extracted from the forest, lost eight relatives and has only buried four.

Peter Mwarogo, head of health for Kilifi County, explains that families are giving up on claiming the bodies for fear of stigmatization. The unclaimed remains are to be buried near Shakahola by December, in graves that allow for future identification.

The State called into question

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights had documented 448 deaths and more than 600 missing persons in its "Mashaka ya Shakahola" report from March 2024, according to Capital FM. The Kenyan ombudsman noted the negligence of officials who ignored warnings between 2021 and 2023, deemed these deaths preventable, and recommended sanctions against six officials, RFI reports.

The regulation of churches is stalling: a report submitted in July 2024 to President William Ruto recommended a specific law and the re-registration of all religious institutions, but the bill, approved by the cabinet in July 2025, is blocked following opposition from a portion of the clergy.

On April 15, 2026, the judge had ruled that the prosecution had established a sufficient presumption and called on the defendants to present their defense, according to the KBC. The prosecution called 121 witnesses; the defense maintains that the case relies largely on circumstantial evidence. Beyond the verdict, it is Kenya's ability to return their dead to the families that remains in question.