A FIVE-MONTH manhunt for a Papua New Guinea cult leader known as "Black Jesus" ended when he was hacked to death by villagers on the nation's east.

Convicted rapist Steven Tari had been on the run since March after escaping with 48 others from Beon prison in Madang.

Tari and one of his followers were killed about 9am (AEST) on Thursday at the remote Gal village, about 20 kilometres outside Madang, as they were attacking a young woman.

"He is now dead and this could be the fate of the others who are also on the run from authorities, and I am warning and strongly urging those escapees to surrender themselves to authorities," Superintendent Sylvester Kalaut told the Post Courier.

The condition of the woman is unknown and comment is being sought from police.

Tari was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2010 for raping girls who belonged to his Christian-based sect.

They were part of what he called a "culture ministry", and he preached that young girls were to be "married" to him because it was God's prophecy.

Superintendent Kalaut said the woman Tari was in the process of attacking was "a flower girl tricked into joining the cult", adding that angry villagers had surrounded him and his companion, and killed them.

District administrator Lawrence Pitor said Tari got what he deserved.

"Those who live by the sword, die by the sword," he said."(Tari) brought his own demise by the evil he dwelled in."

His death comes after the murder of a young high-school girl about a week ago, which Gal residents say was Tari's doing.

His capture in 2007 caused a sensation in PNG and globally, with allegations his cult practised cannibalism and sacrificial blood rituals.

Police only charged him with rape.

Tari is the second high-profile escaped PNG prisoner to be killed in as many months.

Notorious bank robber William Kapris escaped Port Moresby's Bomana prison in May, only to be gunned down in a shoot out with police in late June.

Last year, police arrested dozens of people linked to an alleged cannibal cult accused of killing at least seven people, eating their brains raw, and making soup from their penises.

