Matthew de Grood, 24, claims he believed he was killing Medusas and werewolves when he stabbed five students to death

A Canadian who stabbed five students to death at a house party has claimed he believed he was killing Medusas and werewolves and that the son of God was controlling him.

Matthew de Grood, 24, has admitted killing four young men and a woman at the end-of-term gathering in Calgary in April 2014 but denies murder on mental health grounds.

Joshua Hunter, Jordan Segura, Lawrence Hong, Zackariah Rathwell and Kaitlin Perras - who were all students in their 20s - were killed.

A court was told how de Grood, the son of a police inspector, became withdrawn in the month before the stabbings and would post bizarre ramblings about being 'the good Darth Vader' and reincarnation on Facebook, the Star reported.

He was invited to the party by a childhood friend, Brendan McCabe, who was working with him at a grocery store. The friend said de Grood had been acting strangely at work, calling President Obama 'the Antichrist'.

Mr McCabe added that de Grood handed him a knife and some garlic, saying he 'may need it'.

The odd behavior continued at the party, where de Grood put his phone into a fire. Friend Riley Lindenaar said he rescued the phone, but de Grood then grabbed an ax and smashed it, CBC reported.

Mr McCabe said de Grood later claimed the apocalypse was coming at midnight and spoke about 'jihad' and how his parents thought he might be mentally ill.

Some of the party went to McDonald's at 1am, after which the stabbings began.

De Grood, who put on blue latex gloves after arriving at the house party, told police he attacked budding musician Mr Rathwell, 21, after having a row with him about Buddhism.

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Gone: Kaitlin Perras, 23, was backed into a corner and stabbed at the party in Calgary. She died in hospital

Friends: Lawrence Hong (left), 27, and Zackariah Rathwell (right), 21, were both killed at the party in 2014

Loss: Jordan Segura (left), 22, and Joshua Hunter (right), 23, died after being stabbed at the house party

The law and psychology student grabbed an eight-inch blade from the kitchen counter and sunk it into Mr Rathwell's chest, a jury heard.

'I asked him to give me my space. We were walking toward the knife block, so I decided to shoot first because I didn't know what he was going to do so I stabbed him,' de Grood told police.

De Grood claimed he was being controlled by the son of God when he stabbed the five students

'Then the people on the couch saw and obviously started freaking out, so I killed them from left to right as quickly as I could.'

The three people on the couch were Mr Hunter, 23, Mr Hong, 27, and Mr Segura, 22.

'The girl [Miss Perras] ran into the corner so I went and stabbed her,' de Grood told police.

'I said "I'm sorry I have to do this". Then the guy from the kitchen wasn't dead. I had to hunt him down. Then I just left.'

The group that went to get fast food returned 20 minutes later to find Mr Hunter being chased out of the front door.

Mr Hunter, who had been fatally stabbed, told his friends that de Grood had a knife before collapsing.

Mr McCabe chased after de Grood, who said: 'It's the night of the long knives.'

He then threw away the knife and carried on running, with Mr McCabe catching him not long after.

De Grood wiped his blood-stained hands on McCabe and said they were 'blood brothers' before grabbing a box cutter from his pocket and telling his childhood friend to back off, which he did.

Mr McCabe returned to find friends desperately trying to save Mr Hunter and Miss Perras, 23.

Police arrived to find a 'large amount of blood and carnage,' according to court documents.

Superhuman: Police said de Grood did not appear to feel pain when they caught him, 'like the Incredible Hulk'

Miss Perras died in hospital hours after she was stabbed in the chest by de Grood, who is the son of a Calgary police inspector

Mr Rathwell (left) and Mr Hunter (right) were close friends and were in a band together before their deaths

'Upon entering the front door, there was panic throughout the main floor. Two male victims lying head to head on the floor were motionless in a large pool of blood. People were attending to them but they were deceased,' one of the first officers at the scene wrote in their report.

'A fourth male victim was found lying in a fetal position on a couch while a male kept pressure to the wound to his neck. This victim was also deceased.'

Mr Hunter and Miss Perras died in hospital, while the other three died at the scene.

De Grood was later arrested after being taken down by a police dog.

The dog's handler said de Grood was 'like the Incredible Hulk' and did not appear to be experiencing pain.

He was found to have a clove of garlic inside his sock and jacket and told police that 'it was to keep the zombies away'.

'What I did may seem atrocious but I was killing Medusas, werewolves,' he told police.

Tragic: Police are pictured removing the body of one of the five students stabbed to death from the scene

Investigation: Police officers, pictured in 2014, are seen on the road next to the house where the stabbings took place

'I stabbed people in the house. I just want to say that when I stabbed them, I tried to do it mercifully. I aimed for their heart. They put up a struggle which made it hard, but, so you know, it wasn’t sadistic or anything.

'I didn’t enjoy killing at all. I said sorry, but the son of God was controlling me.'

The killings are the worst to ever take place in Calgary.

The attack was described by city's police chief as 'the worst mass murder in Calgary's history'.

De Grood has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, with his legal team expected to argue he is not criminally responsible on mental health grounds.