THERE was a darkness inside Janet Moses.
Her family tried to restrain her and extract this evil they believed was a curse, but their hunger to heal her ended in callous murder.
Ms Moses, 22, let her family perform an exorcism on her at her grandmother’s home in Wainuiomata, a suburb of Wellington in New Zealand.
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There was no priest in the room and they had no experience doing something like this before.
“Go with peace and love,” the family chanted repeatedly while stomping their feet.
The room was filled with 40 aunties, uncles, brothers and sisters throwing bowls of water on her and sucking on her eyeballs while Ms Moses struggled and fought against it.
Everybody was soaked and the kitchen was flooded from taps that had been running for hours.
Ms Moses was trying to save herself, but the family thought it was the demon fighting.
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The “possessed” mother drowned in her bed after water filled her lungs.
She died on October 2007 and no family members were jailed for the killing of Ms Moses. The courts deciding the grief was enough punishment for the family.
This heartbreaking story has caused controversy since it happened and - was it an exorcism that was an act of love or a callous murder?
A documentary, Belief: The Possession of Janet Moses, has explored the truths and lies around Ms Moses’ “possession” and director David Stubbs says it’s essentially a love story.
The real Janet Moses, who was killed during an exorcism. Picture: One NewsSource:Supplied
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THE POSSESSION
Whatever this was took complete hold of Ms Moses and it will never be known if it was a mental illness she was battling or if she was indeed possessed.
She was struggling with the recent death of her grandmother in 2007 as she was looking after two young daughters.
She was also allegedly in a toxic relationship where her partner had been unfaithful.
“(Her family) genuinely believed there was something malignant and dangerous within her,” defence lawyer involved in the case, Phil Mitchell, said in the documentary.
Weeks before Ms Moses began acting strangely, like an evil spirit was within her, family members stole a concrete lion from the Greytown Hotel.
The leader of the family had a lion tattoo and they believed this statue would be a meaningful symbol in the family home.
But after Ms Moses began showing signs of psychotic behaviour, the family called in a Kaumatua, an elder of the Maori community, to heal her.
He told the family the lion had bought evil into the home that was festering inside of Ms Moses.
The lion was angry because it had been separated from another that was left behind at the hotel.
The elder believed the lions were antiquities that had been together for a century so the family returned it to the Greytown Hotel.
After the lion was taken back, Ms Moses changed and parts of her normal self were creeping back again, but then she took a tragic turn.
Forensic psychiatrist Rees Tapsell told the documentary a combination of her relationship breaking down and her grandmother dying would have put a huge amount of stress and pressure on Ms Moses.
“It’s difficult to be certain what happened but there’s evidence of her becoming psychotic, having extreme changes in her mood,” Dr Tapsell said.
Defence laywer Phil Mitchell was involved in the Janet Moses case. Picture: KHF MediaSource:Supplied
THE EXORCISM
“You can’t just act on bizarre beliefs and kill someone and nothing is done about it.”
This is what Grant Erston thought about Ms Moses’ tragic death.
His responsibility was the lead the team of crown prosecutors making a case against the family members charged in relation to the death.
The exorcism began once the elder gave the family advice about the lions and left.
He said he did all he could to help the young mother and the family thought they had no choice but to cure Ms Moses themselves.
They refused to take her to hospital and denied anybody outside of the family access to the home of Ms Moses’ late grandmother, where they performed the exorcism.
“I could hear stomping, boom, boom, boom, it was deafening,” neighbour Viv Babbington said in the documentary.
“There were so many people, there were heaps of them, the place was choccas man, some couldn’t get in.”
The documentary captured real statements from Ms Moses’ family members about what went on behind closed doors.
“The family lacked any external contact, it was so closed and insular and suffocating,” Mr Mitchell said.
A teenage girl said Ms Moses was affected with a curse called Makutu, which made you mentally sick.
The family did not believe Ms Moses had psychiatric problems and believed her psychotic episodes were all part of this curse that came from the lion.
“Get out of her, leave her alone, you can’t have her,” an aunty yelled at the evil spirit within Ms Moses.
An actor playing Janet Moses in the documentary. Picture: KHF MediaSource:Supplied
The exorcism went on for days and family members put Ms Moses in the shower and turned the cold water on to fight against the demon.
Water was pelting against her face and in police statements family members said it felt like they left her in there for hours.
Ms Moses began gasping and her normal self was returned to her body.
The family believed they healed her but over the next day they would realise they hadn’t.
About 40 people were crammed in the house, passing bowls and bowls of water to throw on Ms Moses as they tried to kill the evil spirit.
During the family members’ trial, the court heard several people also leant over the woman and placed their mouths over her eye balls and tried to suck them out in an attempt to remove the curse.
Ms Moses told them to stop, but they just thought that was the demon talking.
The young mother was coughing and spluttering, turning her head erratically as people tried to hold her head still.
The room was hot and some of the family members had not slept in days.
The bathroom was closed off so people urinated in nappies, towels and the clothes they were wearing.
A teenage girl’s eyes began to roll back and family members believed she too was possessed and began throwing water over her as well and she nearly died.
“It went blank, I think that’s when they nearly lost me,” the teen told police.
“I don’t feel like they were trying to hurt us, they would’ve had their reasons.”
She told her family members they were scaring her and as she tried to punch and claw herself away, the more her family thought she was possessed.
The grave of Janet Moses. Picture: KHF MediaSource:Supplied
Both the teenager and Ms Moses then broke free but they were quickly forced down again as the family members thought the evil spirit was doubling in strength.
“Hysteria is not an uncommon state and most of us at times have felt a bit hysterical,” Dr Tapsell said.
Water was poured on Ms Moses’ face for hours and eventually her jaw locked.
Her family thought it was the demon trying to stop the water from getting to it, so the family pried her mouth open and soon after Ms Moses drowned.
When she was dead, the family put more effort into the teenage girl’s exorcism, believing the evil spirit escaped Ms Moses and was taking over the young girl’s body.
The teenage girl blacked out but one of the family members called a respected community leader who came to the home and urged the family to take the young women to the hospital.
Superintendent Tusha Penny was second in charge of the investigation of the exorcisms.
“What we could never have appreciated when we first walked through the door was that what was about to unfold was something incredibly unique, something incredibly tragic and something very challenging,” she said.
“Whenever you work on any case it’s a privilege and you have a really big job to do and we worked very hard to understand how a family could do that to one of their own.”
Stubbs told news.com.au the family was in fear for each other and Ms Moses.
“They were really set on fixing it and thought they had to fix it themselves,” he said.
“They kept at it and kept at it and lost their way.”
Grant Erston led the crown prosecutors who made the case against Janet Moses’ family members. Picture: KHF MediaSource:Supplied
THE TRIAL
Nine members of the family appeared in court on manslaughter charges following the death of Ms Moses and they all pleaded not guilty.
Defence lawyer Mike Antunovic said the accused, who cannot be identified, believed Ms Moses was possessed and they were trying to help her.
The trial, which was held for almost a month, focused on the issue of consent and whether Ms Moses did in fact agree to the exorcism.
Five members of the family were convicted of Ms Moses’ death, but the court decided they had suffered enough.
They weren’t jailed, but were required to do community service and undertake cultural education programs.
They were allowed to live at home but had a curfew.
The home where the exorcism took place was later knocked down.
“I heard they still believe the curse is alive in their family,” Dr Heather Kavan, a lecturer in extraordinary religious experiences said.
The empty lot in Wainuiomata where Janet Moses’ exorcism took place. Picture: KHF MediaSource:Supplied
The court tried to be sensitive to the family during the court case but the evidence put forward was harrowing.
“Reading it sounded like something from the Salem witch trials,” Dr Kavan said.
Stubbs said nobody went to jail because the court accepted it was an accident.
“They never meant to kill her,” he said.
“They already paid a heavy price, what use would jail do?
“It’s a crime of love. There’s no doubt Janet loved them, and they loved Janet. It’s recognised there are times when hysteria can take over and people are not in control of their actions, almost like being controlled by a substance. You’re not in your right mind. Nobody intended to murder anyone.
“When they discovered she was dead they couldn’t quite believe it themselves and blamed it on the demon, not themselves.
“It wasn’t calculated, it wasn’t deliberate and it was coming from a place of love, not malice.”
The documentary was part of the Melbourne International Film Festival, which is on until August 14.
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