‘Demon worshipper’ slaughters family

A MAN from Misima Island in Milne Bay province killed four members of his family before killing himself on Saturday, Oct 10, in what police have described as a “massacre on Misima”.
The killer was said to be a demon worshipper who believed in a “black Jesus” and worshipped occasionally on mountain tops at very early hours.
Provincial police commander, Snr Insp Lincoln Gerari, said yesterday that 37-year-old Rodney Sinod, from Eaus village on the south coast of Misima Island, had on numerous occasions told his family that “he was going to kill them so the world would be free”.
Police reports indicated that on the fateful Saturday morning, after his usual worship on a mountain, Sinod returned to the family home situated a few meters away from his own home where his parents had just finished their morning prayers.
Snr Insp Gerari said that while the mother remained in the house doing household chores, the father stepped outside and was in the process of preparing food to feed the chicken when Sinod came from behind and chopped him with an axe, killing him instantly.
The mother, who rushed to see what had happened, told her son to kill her too, but he refused.
He then ran into the house where his niece and nephew (sister’s children) aged two and five years were playing and slashed them as well, before turning on his sister-in-law (brother’s wife) and chopped her with an axe and a bush knife.
Sinod then turned on his 17-year-old niece who had graduated just a day earlier after completing Grade 10 at the Misima High School and had come home to spend the holidays with the family.
Police reports said Sinod chopped off part of her lower left hand with the axe and struck her on the head.
Snr Insp Gerari said after Sinod finished what he had set out to do, he ran towards the mountains where he stabbed himself in the chest with a knife, slamming his body against a tree to ensure that the knife penetrated his heart.
The injured niece is recovering from her wounds at the Misima district hospital.
Snr Insp Gerari said demon worshippers posed a serious threat to the communities on the island, especially in light of this massacre.
He urged the provincial authorities to act promptly and respond immediately to eradicate the practice on the island, before the situation got out of control.
Snr Insp Gerari said at least six villages were into the practice and reported that even a police officer had established a church with similar beliefs, adding that people who joined the sect started behaving differently after joining it.