Preacher Paul Mackenzie is asking the High Court for mercy before he is sentenced over the Shakahola Forest deaths. The State is seeking the death penalty, the Daily Nation reported. Mackenzie was convicted of 191 counts of murder. According to the Eastleigh Voice, the victims were 190 children and one adult. Sentencing is set for Friday, November 6.
Prosecutors want life imprisonment for the other 27 convicts in the case, the Eastleigh Voice reported. Mackenzie's lawyers, Lawrence Obonyo Legal Advocates, filed mitigation submissions covering all 28 convicts. They asked the court to consider prison terms of less than 10 years for convicts whose individual circumstances justify leniency.
The defence says the convicts changed during their three years in custody. According to the submissions, they took part in deradicalisation training and religious programmes. Some embraced Christianity. The lawyers also say all 28 are first offenders, citing police clearance certificates issued on October 30, 2026. They added that the convicts are willing to join the National Counter Terrorism Centre's Disengagement, Deradicalisation, Rehabilitation and Reintegration programme.
The lawyers accepted the scale of the loss. "The loss of 191 innocent lives, including 190 children, is a tragedy of immeasurable proportions," they wrote. They also argued that the convicts were victims themselves because they lost property and children. Citing Section 333(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code, the defence asked the court to deduct time already spent in custody from any sentence.
In closing, the defence asked the court not to treat all the convicts alike. The lawyers argued that each punishment should reflect individual culpability and the prospects of rehabilitation. "My Lady, justice is not measured by the severity of punishment, but by the fairness, proportionality and wisdom with which it is imposed," they submitted.
The plea for mercy marks a sharp change in tone for Mackenzie. Police arrested him in April 2023, as investigators began finding bodies in shallow graves in Shakahola Forest. From a police vehicle, he warned Kenyans: "kitawaramba". The remark drew widespread condemnation, the Eastleigh Voice reported. Investigators later recovered hundreds of bodies from the forest. Survivors described the fasting instructions they had received and the conditions inside the settlement.