In brief
Dan Mackenzie, eldest son of convicted preacher Paul Mackenzie, reveals his five younger siblings were forced to fast for days even weeks before the court case. After eight children were rescued by police from their grandmother’s house, Dan now faces public scrutiny. The Shakahola forest massacre saw over 400 bodies, prompting a verdict on 191 murders. Colorful details of the cult’s brutal doctrine and its impact on survivors are highlighted while Dan hopes the court’s decision brings relief.
Dan Mackenzie, 27, says his younger siblings were still being fasted as late as two weeks before his father’s trial began, and he has spoken to police to protect them.
Dan, the eldest child of Paul Mackenzie—convicted of murdering 191 people in Kenya’s Shakahola forest—believed at first he could defend his family. The court proceedings, however, painted a stark picture of the cult’s cruelty.
"When I was 12 I was forced to fast for almost a week," Dan recounted, adding that he was beaten for months to enforce church attendance when he was a child. He says he only realized the gravity of the situation after the children were saved by police from his grandmother’s home.
Police rescued eight kids—Dan’s five younger siblings, their mother, and another relative—moving them to a safe centre. He says the children were denied food for almost three days, a deprivation that left them in severe distress.
The judge’s 2018 sentencing of Paul Mackenzie for 190 child deaths and one adult are now followed by his face‑to‑face hearing on 6 November, where he faces additional charges of terrorism and radicalisation.
The cult’s doctrines forbade education and labeled modern medicine ‘evil’. Mackenzie’s followers were taught that starving themselves and their offspring would bring them ‘to meet Jesus’—a promise that drove the mass deaths.
Dan now lives in the coastal town of Malindi, working as a motorcycle taxi driver while shearing support for his younger relatives. He has stated he hopes the verdict will bring some comfort to those who lost loved ones.
Additional reporting by Thomas Mukhwana
