Self-proclaimed preacher Paul Mackenzie appeared in court Wednesday to face charges related to 52 additional deaths, as Kenya’s devastating Shakahola forest massacre continues to widen into what prosecutors now describe as an ongoing terrorist operation.
The Public Prosecution Office announced on X that Mackenzie and several co-defendants have been charged with organized criminal activity, two counts of radicalization, and two counts of facilitating commission of a terrorist act. The charges stem from the deaths of at least 52 people discovered in the Quabinzaro area of Jakama, Kilifi County.
Mackenzie, who has remained in custody and pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of manslaughter at his Mombasa trial, now faces an expanded prosecution case linking him to deaths discovered last year in a remote village approximately 30 kilometers from Shakahola along Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast.
The new charges suggest the same starvation cult continued operating even after Mackenzie’s initial arrest, prosecutors said.
The case first made global headlines in 2023 when hundreds of bodies were discovered just inland from the Kenyan beach resort of Malindi. The grisly findings in the Shakahola forest became known as one of the world’s worst cult-related tragedies, with more than 400 victims ultimately recovered from shallow graves.
Wednesday’s court action marks a significant escalation in the prosecution’s case, now formally alleging terrorist activity in addition to manslaughter charges. The Public Prosecution Office has not released details regarding how the additional 52 victims died or precisely when the Quabinzaro burials occurred.
Mackenzie and his co-accused remain in custody as proceedings continue.
