Faith Healer Admits Beating Six To Death

An arrested faith healer has confessed to beating six people to death with a drumstick in exorcism rites she held in her house, police said Friday.

But Sachiko Eto, 47, denied she intended to kill the victims, police in the northern prefecture of Fukushima said. Eto was quoted as saying the beatings were designed to exorcise evil spirits.

Eto and three associates were arrested Wednesday after six bodies were found in her home in Sukagawa, north of Tokyo.

Police were searching Eto’s home while investigating a complaint by a man who said his daughter-in-law had been assaulted there.