© Tom Steinfort
Family members arrive at the Manoora shrine in Cairns
Family members arrive at the Manoora shrine in Cairns
Raina Mersane Ina Thaiday, who remains under police guard in hospital, had taken to giving fiery sermons in the street and had cut the power to her home and threw away the television, neighbours told News Corp.
She warned locals not to use their mobile phones because they were the "work of the Devil" and posted a handwritten sign on a front window of her public housing home that read: "No alcohol, cigarette, and drunken people allowed in this area".
Others said the house, where she is accused of killing seven of her own children and a niece in a frenzied knife attack last Friday, was often the scene of wild all-night parties.
Meanwhile, preliminary autopsy reports are detailing the horrific injuries sustained by some of the eight children in the knife attack.
It is alleged some suffered multiple stab wounds, with one child sustained at least 12 knife wounds to the front and 10 more on the back, according to pathology results.
Comment: It is not the first time we have seen mothers torturing or murdering their children, it seems to be a Sign of our Times. This one however, certainly goes high up on the list of the shocking, horrific, terribly sad and totally insane.