Pastor Mackenzie sentenced to one year in jail

Controversial preacher Paul Mackenzie has been jailed for 12 months for the offence of operating a film studio and producing films without a valid license.

Malindi Senior Resident Magistrate Olga Onalo also slapped him with another six-month jail term for showing the films to members of the public, through Times TV, without having an operating license.  

The sentences will run concurrently but Mackenzie has the right to appeal within 14 days.

The development comes after the Probation Officer handling the case recommended that Mackenzie be denied the alternative of a fine.

“In respect to count two, I hereby sentence the accused person to twelve months imprisonment while in respect to count three, the accused person’s explanation of not knowing the need for a license from the Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) having obtained a broadcasting one is a reasonable though not entirely acceptable as ignorance of the law is no defense hence the resulting conviction and in light of the same, I sentence the accused to six months imprisonment,” said Onalo.

The offences faced by Mackenzie attracts a jail term not exceeding one year and an alternative fine not exceeding Ksh. 100,000.

The report that was tabled in court emanates from a court order that directed the probation office to compile a report to guide the sentencing of Mackenzie in a 2019 court case involving running a recording and TV studio without a valid license from  KFCB.

The probation report by the Assistant Director of Probation in Mombasa Nick Makuu stated that in previous criminal records, Mackenzie was convicted and fined for a similar offence in criminal case no. 182 of 2017 and he was recently acquitted in CR 790/17 for charges related to activities in his church such as radicalization and operating an unregistered education institution for which the ODPP has applied to appeal out of time.