Kenya pastor accused of ordering parents to starve their children to death faces verdict

The leader of a Kenyan doomsday cult, Paul Mackenzie, has been found guilty of murdering 191 people, all but one of them children.

Mackenzie ordered members of his cult to starve their children to death so they could "meet Jesus".

His doctrine said that education was forbidden and modern medicine was "evil".

Twenty-eight other leaders of his cult were also convicted of murder. They had all pleaded not guilty, repeatedly insisting that nobody was forced to die.

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Delivering her eight-hour judgement in the port city of Mombasa, Justice Diana Mochache said Mackenzie's followers believed he was "Jesus's mouthpiece".

One of his co-accused said Mackenzie had told his followers that anyone who "resisted the directive to fast must be forced to go to heaven through kicks and blows".

Source: BBC News World RSS (Open Press / Full Text)