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An infamous cult leader known
as "Black Jesus", who was
suspected of cannibalism, has
been chopped to death in a
remote Papua New Guinea
village, reports said Friday.
According to AFP, Steven Tari, a
convicted rápist, had been on
the run since escaping from a
prison in Madang in the Pacific
nation's east during a mass
break-out with 48 others in
March.
Madang police chief Sylvester
Kalaut said that Tari and one of
his followers were killed at a
village about 20 kilometres (12
miles) outside Madang on
Thursday as they were attacking
a young woman.
"He is now dead and this could
be the fate of the others who are
also on the run from authorities
and I am warning and strongly
urging those escapees to
surrender themselves to
authorities," Kalaut told the PNG
Post-Courier.
Tari, a failed Lutheran pastor
who was widely known as Black
Jesus, was found guilty in 2010
of ráping girls who belonged to
his Christian-based sect and
sentenced to up to 10 years.
At the time, he had thousands of
village followers, including a core
of armed warriors to protect
him, in what is commonly
referred to in PNG as a "cargo
cult".
As part of his "culture ministry",
he preached that young girls
were to be "married" to him as it
was God's prophecy.
Kalaut said the woman Tari was
in the process of attacking was
"a flower girl tricked into joining
the cult", adding that angry
villagers had surrounded him
and his companion and killed
them.
His death follows that of a young
high-school girl about a week
ago — a murder alleged to have
been carried out by Tari.
When he was captured in 2007,
there were widespread
allegations that his cult also
practiced cannibalism and
sacrificial blood rituals, but police
only charged him with rápe.
PNG is a sprawling nation where
black magic, sorcery and
cannibalism sometimes occur.
Last year, police arrested dozens
of people linked to an alleged
cannibal cult accused of killing at
least seven people, eating their
brains raw and making soup
from their penises.
AFP
Black Jesus Killed
