PRISON escapee and cult leader Steven Tari, or Black Jesus, and another man were chopped to death in a village about 20km outside Madang town in Papua New Guinea yesterday morning.
Provincial Police Commander Chief Supt Sylvester Kalaut confirmed the killings yesterday.
He claimed Tari and another man were in the process of attacking a young woman – “a flower girl tricked into joining the cult” – when a group of angry villagers from Gal surrounded the pair and killed them.
The most recent killing alleged to have been carried out by Tari was about a week ago, that of a Grade 7 schoolgirl.
“The body of the student victim was found dumped beside the road at Korog village in the Transgogol area,” Kalaut said.
Police detectives in Madang said the girl’s remains would be exhumed tomorrow and brought back to Madang for further investigations.
They said several other people would be arrested in relation to the murder.
Kalaut said an autopsy would be carried out once the bodies of Tari and the other man were brought to town.
He said Tari was a controversial person who escaped from prison while serving a 15-year sentence for abusing and killing girls and young women.
Tari was among a group of 49 inmates who escaped from the Beon prison early this year.
Chairman of law and order for ward 16 in Transgogol Jai IIlai, who had alerted police to the death of the schoolgirl, yesterday, said: “Enough is enough. We want the place cleaned up. No more innocent lives will be lost.”
District administrator Lawrence Pitor said: “Those who live by the sword, die by the sword.
“(Tari) brought his own demise by the evil he dwelled in.” The National