by Ray Black
The new target was Kasumigaseki station, on the Tokyo subway, the weapon was sarin, and the attack was scheduled for the morning rush hour, 8 a.m. on Monday March 20, 1995. Sealed bags of the poison were to be taken into the subway by five chosen Aum members, punctured, and then left to diffuse.
On the chosen morning at the appointed time, the perpetrators, who had their own antidote pills to the poison, all boarded separate trains bound for Kasumigaseki station. As the trains drew nearer they released the sarin and disembarked at the next stop.
The gas took effect instantly. Commuters on the deadly trains became nauseous. Some began to collapse, and others ran from the trains to the station exits, passing more sick and collapsed passengers as they went. Railway staff immediately contacted the emergency services and soon ambulances had arrived at the scene.
Five thousand five hundred people were injured by the Aum attack that fateful morning. Some will never recover fully from the damage that the sarin gas did, and some had a relatively lucky escape with only minor injuries. Twelve people in total died. Speculation abounded regarding the cause of the attack, but when experts examined the site after everyone had been evacuated, they confirmed that it was no gas leak, but rather an attack with the manufactured gas sarin.
AFTERMATH
An elated Shoko Asahara greeted the five executors of this evil when they returned to the compound. He paid them, praised them, and then told them to go into hiding. With the Tokyo public in shock and beseeching the authorities for answers to this tragedy, a massive impending police raid was planned. Although this was a secret operation, the plans were leaked to Asahara by Aum informers within the police, and the sect therefore began a huge clean-up operation of the compound and laboratories, hiding every trace of chemicals and any incriminating evidence or reports which could have linked them to the attack. Asahara and his followers took flight.
Aum’s attempts to conceal their activities were useless. The investigators found vast amounts of dangerous substances, chemicals which could be used to produce enough sarin to kill millions of people, and the equipment to make and distribute the deadly poison. They also unearthed torture chambers, millions of dollars, gold and drugs. Although some of the followers had remained at the compound, no arrests were made.
From a secret hiding place, Asahara reacted to the police raids by launching his legal team into action. They denied all accusations of the attack, claiming that the chemicals were used for fertilisers, and even accused the American military of the sarin attack in order to frame their peaceful and innocent organization.
Neither the public nor the police believed this and the investigations increased. Aum then launched their own attack on the Tokyo police department. The chief of the national police agency was shot in the head four times as he entered his office, but miraculously survived. Warnings were issued that should the persecution of Aum continue then more police would be killed.
Slowly and painstakingly, the police did manage to track down and arrest some of the more senior Aum members for holding followers against their will, but they could not charge these individuals with the gas attack, and nothing and no one was leading them to the one man they wanted. Numerous searches revealed only a warning that should they find Asahara’s hideout and attempt to enter, sarin gas would pour down on them and everyone would die together.
Refusing to give up, Asahara continued to issue threats to the police and even produced and circulated a booklet which foretold further catastrophe, this time on a phenomenal scale. He gave April 15, 1995 as the date for this impending disaster. Needless to say, mass panic spread across Tokyo. People left the city, businesses closed, nobody wanted to be around if Aum were to strike again. But the date passed without incident.
Although over 100 Aum members had been arrested, mostly only for minor offences, Tokyo was still not safe with Asahara and some of the chief architects of Aum’s evil still at large. This was to be proved on May 5, a Japanese public holiday, when an already very alert police department was called to a crowded subway station after a bag had been discovered burning in one of the toilets. The flames were put out, and the deadly contents of the bag revealed. Two condoms were found inside, one filled with sodium cyanide and the other filled with sulfuric acid. Had the two condoms melted and mixed their contents, the result would have been hydrogen cyanide and it could have killed tens of thousands of subway-users.
ASAHARA CAPTURED
Finally, on May 16, 1995, police stormed the compound one more time and found Shoko Ashara hiding in one of the buildings. He was brought out to full media coverage, with the eyes of all Japan upon him.
Bringing Shoko Asahara and the inner circle of the Aum Supreme Truth to justice has been a colossal, massively time-consuming task. Beginning in April 1996, the trial made slow progress due to the large number of crimes the cult had been accused of, and the density of evidence to be presented. It was also hindered considerably by Asahara’s refusal to co-operate, falling asleep during proceedings and mostly remaining silent except for occasionally mumbling inaudible comments and statements.
Originally refusing even to enter a plea and declaring only that he had ‘nothing to say’, Asahara eventually pleaded not-guilty in 1997 to all charges against him, diverting the blame on all counts to the followers of Aum who, he claimed, had become uncontrollable and acted against his wishes. His lawyers claimed that he was a ‘genuine man of religion’ and as such could never have instructed such crimes to be committed.
The scene outside the court on February 27, 2004, the day Asahara was due to receive his verdict, was chaos. Thousands of members of the public had arrived to hear the charges read against him. They were awarded their justice. Shoko Asahara, found guilty of 13 charges of murder and attempted murder, and 11 other members of Aum were sentenced to death.
Yet even with Asahara now sentenced to death and never to return to the outside world, many believe that Aum still poses a threat to Japan and the rest of the world. Aum continues to grow, led now by Fumihiro Joyu, and renamed ‘Aleph’ in January 2002. It has supposedly renounced violence and the former practices of Shoko Asahara, at least those which they consider dangerous. They have paid compensation to the victims of Aum’s attacks – money from the group’s assets and from profits gained by Aum-run computer companies.
Aleph does however, still revere Shoko Asahara as a genius in yoga and Buddhist meditation, and will continue to practise these methods taught by him. Members are still recruited, and revenue is still generated. The Japanese government claims that Aleph’s followers still maintain an absolute faith in Asahara and his doctrine and it is therefore viewed with great suspicion and monitored closely. In an effort to keep a tight control on the group, legislation has been passed by parliament allowing the police freely to inspect the premises of the group.
To date, none of the convicted members of Aum have been executed. They have all launched appeals, which it is estimated will take years to settle.
At the height of its success, the net assets of the Aum Supreme Truth totalled in excess of one billion dollars. Chizuo Matsumoto could be said to have achieved his childhood dream.
Luke Woodham
High-school shootings in Mississippi
Up until october, 1997 the Pearl High School was an average Mississippi government run school. An all singing and all dancing American dream with a mission motto to: ‘instill a strong educational foundation that enables all students to become confident, self directed, lifelong learners in a changing technological world.’
There was no way that the school could have prepared for what happened on October 1, 1997 when an armed student entered the grounds and unleashed a frenzied attack which resulted in the deaths of two students and the injury of several others.
Luke Woodham was a 16-year-old second year student who throughout his school life had found it extremely difficult to fit in. He had constantly been bullied by his peers due to his inability to look the part of a trendy, popular st
udent. He came from a broken home and was a studious type who was very awkward within himself. Even though Woodham had extreme intelligence, he lacked other skills that are held in higher regard than brain power such as physical prowess, charisma and humour, things that get you liked at school.
But it wasn’t just his high-school peers who had made Woodham’s life a living hell, his mother, Mary Woodham, was also guilty of emotional abuse. She regularly told him that he was the reason that his father, John Woodham had left her. She would also tell her son that he was fat, stupid and would never amount to much, unlike his extremely popular older brother.
Woodham finally found some acceptance in 1996 when he got together with his class mate Christina Menefee. Not only was Christina his first girlfriend but she was also his first ‘real’ friend and he fell in love instantly. He would walk her to her classes, take her to the cinema and generally dote on her. But after only two months together, the novelty had worn off for Christina, she was at the age where boyfriends changed at a vast rate. She split up with Luke and was soon making fun and taunting him just like the rest of the students at Pearl High. Little did she know the effect that breaking-up with him was going to have on both of their lives.
Luke Woodham was devastated. He could not eat or sleep, all he could think about was the girl who had made him live a little who had then gone on to knock him right back down. He believed that she was a Christian that had made him hate God, and for that he was angry.
It was shortly after their split that 19-year-old Grant Boyette befriended Woodham. Boyette told Woodham that he worshiped Satan and admired Hitler, and asked if he would like to join his group. Boyette said to Woodham: ‘I think you’ve got the potential to do something great.’
This was the first time in a long while that Woodham had been made to feel special, for once it was him and not the high school jock who had something to offer. Woodham really took Boyette’s words on board and before long he was a practicing Satanist in a group going by the name of ‘The Kroth’.
What finally confirmed this new belief for Woodham was when Boyette cast a spell and the next day one of their school peers was run over and killed by a car. Woodham suddenly believed that as a member of The Kroth he had a deadly power over people and could use it however he wished.
The seven boys that made up The Kroth would participate in role-play games, such as Star Wars, and Boyette would get Woodham and the other five boys to swear allegiance to him and to Satan. They allegedly discussed and planned to overthrow the school, kill a selection of people and then flee to Cuba. They were boys who had never before in their lives fitted in with any social clique, and at long last they belonged.
It is alleged that Boyette really started to get inside Woodham’s mind, by constantly bringing up his treatment by ex-girlfriend Christina. Boyette would tell Woodham that he was spineless and worthless if he didn’t seek revenge on people like her.
By the summer of 1997, Luke Woodham had started to experience hallucinations in which red cloaked demons with blood red eyes would visit him at night. He would also hear Boyette’s voice telling him to command the demons to attack people on behalf of Satan.
Throughout September, Woodham’s emotional state got worse, he did not care for his life any more and was reading more and more Satanic text given to him by Boyette.
On September 28, 1997, Woodham confided in his friend, Lucas Thomson, telling him that he planned to kill his mother so that he could steal her car, take his brother’s gun and then drive to school and kill people he didn’t like. Lucas did not tell anybody about this conversation until after the events that were about to happen.
At around 5 a.m. on October 1, 1997, Woodham got up and made his way to the kitchen where he picked up a butcher’s knife and a baseball bat. He then entered the room of his still sleeping mother. He repeatedly stabbed and beat her with the bat until she was dead.
Woodham then calmly embarked on cleaning the walls and floor, and putting his blood soaked clothes in the washing machine. A couple of hours later he spoke to both Thomson and Boyette and told them what he had just done.
At around 8 a.m., Woodham climbed into his dead mother’s car with his brother’s rifle in tow and headed to Pearl High School. Upon arrival Woodham handed some papers to Justin Sledge, another Kroth member, and then picked up his rifle and headed towards the area where hundreds of students were waiting for lessons to begin.
Christina Menefee and best friend Lydia Dew were leaning by a post chatting when Woodham approached them. He waited until he was at point blank range and then pulled the trigger of his brother’s hunting rifle. He did this twice into each of the girls bodies and then headed towards the group of students who were running for their lives. He fired the gun repeatedly until he was finally out of ammunition and then made his way back to the car to re-load.
It was here that Woodham was restrained by the deputy head and arrested.
On June 5, 1998, a circuit court jury found Luke Woodham guilty of his mother’s murder and was sentenced to life behind bars. The following week on June 12, 1998, Woodham was found guilty on two counts of murder and seven counts of aggravated assault. he was sentenced to another two life imprisonments plus 20 years for each of the seven assaults.
His defence had tried to plea insanity in the hope of a lesser charge but his emotional testimony failed to convince the jury of this.
During police interviews prior to the court case Woodham said that he felt that nobody cared for him and that he could not find any reason not to go ahead with what he did.
Even though he was seen by the jury as not being insane, surely it takes quite a bit of mental instability to commit such hateful attacks? He was not forced into doing the things that he did but if one of the only people willing to be your friend is the same person brain washing you with ideas about the devil it is sure to have an effect on you if you are not 100 per cent sane. What Woodham did can never be forgiven or forgotten but he should have had the opportunity to channel this hatred through more conventional means and not through murderous worship.
PEER PRESSURE PROSECUTION QUASHED
Grant Boyette and Justin Sledge were expecting to be tried as accessories but delays occurred so that more evidence could be sought.
On December 22, 1998, 18-year-old Justin Sledge was freed when Mississippi prosecutors withdrew their request for an indictment on him due to lack of evidence.
The teenager, who had also been a member of Boyette’s cult of Satanic worship – The Kroth, could have faced life imprisonment if he had been found guilty of the alleged role that prosecutors said he had had in the murders. On top of the lack of evidence, in a taped interview, Luke Woodham said that Sledge had not been involved.
Grant Boyette was a different matter. He had been the leader of the satanic group, the empowering force who had made his weak-minded and unloved followers feel special. Had he enough control that peer pressure had made Woodham commit the terrible atrocities that he did? Or would Woodham still have taken out his anger and hatred of the world on innocent people if he had never encountered Boyette? The law courts couldn’t even answer this, and his trial was delayed time and time again right up until the year 2000.
In January, 2000 Boyette was still scheduled to face a murder trial on February 28 in Biloxi, but a week before the trial 20-year-old Boyette pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of conspiring to prevent a principle from doing his job. He was found guilty of this and was sentenced to a six month army-style programme called ‘Regimented Inmate Discipline’ and then a further five years supervised probation.
Some people believe that Boyette got off too lightly as it was alleged that he was the mastermind behind the fateful acts on that October morning. But others believe that Boyette was just a normal teenager who may have spoken of murderous acts hypothetically but never believed anyone would carry them out.
Luke Woodham and others like him, including Grant Boyette were children who expressed desperate cries for help t
hat were never answered in time, with Woodham’s final plea arriving in the form of murder. Boyette now has a chance to put his life back on track and channel his hatred of bullies in the world in a positive way, but Luke Woodham never will.
Charles Manson
The Family
An illegitimate and unwanted accident, Charles Manson began his miserable early life in Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 12, 1934. His
16-year-old mother was Kathleen Maddox, an alcoholic prostitute who passed her son off on to family and friends whenever the opportunity arose, and then disappeared for days at a time. His father, on paper, was Colonel Scott of
Ashland in Kentucky, although little Charlie never knew him. In fact, he knew no father figure at all, only inheriting his surname from William Manson, to whom his mother was married for a very short time.
When Kathleen and her brother were imprisoned for armed robbery, Charles was sent to live with his devoutly religious aunt and uncle in West Virginia. The contrast between this new environment and his former home life in Ohio was marked. Charles always thought that his mother would come back for him, yet when Kathleen was subsequently released from prison, she was neither willing nor fit to look after her little boy. Consequently passed from relative to relative, Charlie, completely friendless and with no stability or continuity in his life, began to turn to crime and to his own imagination for company.
A LIFE OF CRIME
Charlie’s first spell in reform school came at the age of nine, when he was caught stealing. Convicted of the same offence again at the age of 12, he was once again institutionalised and thus began the cycle of his life, in and out of reform schools and, later, prisons. In total, Charles spent more than half of his first 30 years incarcerated. The litany of offences committed by Manson was wide-ranging: burglary, armed robbery, car theft, assault, sodomy, pimping, rape, fraud.