Mackenzie’s sect was connected to his evangelical Good News International Church. Religious teachings were used to enforce fasting on followers and their children, with the stated aim that they would die and enter heaven.
The community was located in coastal south-east Kenya, including the Shakahola Forest area, where the case unfolded.
ABC Australia Sport reported that more than 400 bodies were dug up in the wider Shakahola case. It distinguished that figure from the 191 murder convictions and from separate charges over the deaths of more than 230 other people; the supplied evidence does not establish how each body relates to the convictions.
ABC Australia Sport reported that Mackenzie was convicted alongside 28 others and that sentencing was scheduled for November 6, with possible life imprisonment among the outcomes faced by Mackenzie and others. The supplied reporting does not provide a final sentence. ABC also reported that Mackenzie denied all charges and said he did not force followers to starve themselves.