‘Possessed’ pupil sets room alight

AN UMKOMAAS matric pupil who set fire to his room and threatened to slit his own throat said a demon made him do it because she disliked the colour of the walls. According to reports in the Daily News and on the IOL website, the boy claimed a demon named Jennifer had followed him home and was telling him what to do.

When firefighters arrived at his house, they found that a neighbour had hosed much of the fire down. The windows had burst and the roof had caved in. The teenager was sitting on a partially burnt chair in the corner of his room.

Division operations manager of the Amanzimtoti fire station, Paul Audie, said that the teen threatened to slit his throat with a broken piece of glass if the firefighters approached him. A bag of rice had been set alight in another room. The teenager said that he had been trying to prepare a meal for ‘Jennifer’ because she was hungry,” said Mr Audie. “He was also making calls on his cellphone, claiming that ‘Jennifer’ was telling him to phone 666 to speak to Satan.” He had also reportedly written ‘best day ever’ in the soot, using his finger.

The reports go on to say when the teenager’s mother and younger sister returned home from church, he refused to let them into the house. The mother called her congregation, who sang and prayed to drive the ‘demon’ away.  After about two hours, the teenager tried to cut the chair and the glass broke, allowing the firefighters to spray him with water and escort him from the house.

What was most surprising to firefighters was that the teenager suffered no burns and had no difficulty breathing, despite the extent of the fire and smoke.  “Without our masks, we would have survived, maybe three minutes maximum, but he was just sitting there, talking to us and didn’t cough once. In 20 years of duty, I have never experienced something as strange as this,” said Mr  Audie. The teenager was taken to hospital for assessment.