A grieving Kenyan father whose six young children were starved to death in a notorious doomsday cult has demanded that self-styled pastor Paul Mackenzie be locked away forever.

Stephen Mwiti Joseph has spent months searching for answers after his wife took their children into the remote depths of the Shakahola forest to follow the Good News International Church, Al Jazeera reported. With hundreds of bodies exhumed from shallow graves across the coastal woodland, all six of his children are now presumed dead.

The harrowing testimony highlights the enduring trauma inflicted by what authorities consider one of the worst religious massacres in modern African history.

Devastation in the Shakahola Scrub

The horror began unravelling in early 2023 when Kenyan police raided a 320-hectare tract of bushland near the coastal town of Malindi. Investigators discovered hundreds of emaciated bodies buried beneath the thorn trees, alongside scattered survival encampments.

Followers of Mackenzie, a former taxi driver turned televangelist, had been persuaded that the apocalypse was imminent. Witnesses and investigators allege congregants were ordered to fast to the point of death so they could ascend to heaven before the world ended.

More than 440 bodies have since been recovered, many showing clear signs of severe malnutrition, while forensic autopsies also revealed evidence of suffocation and blunt-force trauma among child victims.

A Family Snatched by Extremism

For Mr Mwiti, the nightmare unfolded when his wife abruptly vanished with their children, surrendering to the cult's apocalyptic preachings.

According to the Al Jazeera report, Mr Mwiti made repeated, agonised attempts to retrieve his family, but was barred from entering the guarded perimeter established by Mackenzie's inner circle in the scrub. Subsequent forensic investigations and survivor accounts have left little hope, leaving the father to mourn the loss of his entire family unit.

He has since demanded the harshest possible judicial reckoning, insisting that Mackenzie never be permitted to return to society.

Murder and Terrorism Indictments

Mackenzie and scores of associates are currently facing sweeping criminal proceedings across Kenya's judicial system, confronting charges that include murder, manslaughter, terrorism, and cruelty against children.

State prosecutors allege that Mackenzie operated an organised, coercive regime, stationing armed enforcers around the forest to beat or kill any defectors who attempted to break their fast or escape.

Mackenzie has consistently denied wrongdoing, maintaining that his church closed years prior to the discoveries and rejecting claims that he directed anyone to starve.

Mounting Pressure on Kenyan Authorities

The scale of the Shakahola disaster has provoked national soul-searching and intense criticism of Kenyan intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Critics have questioned how hundreds of families were able to disappear into the scrubland over a protracted period without raising police alarms, despite previous arrests of Mackenzie on radicalisation complaints.

A judicial commission of inquiry has been examining regulatory loopholes that permit unregulated religious organisations to flourish across Kenya.

For surviving relatives such as Mr Mwiti, institutional reform offers little solace. As the complex process of DNA identification grinds on slowly through morgues in Malindi and Kilifi, families remain suspended in grief, waiting for the formal return of remains while awaiting the conclusion of an unprecedented trial.