<p>MONCTON, N.B. – A 60-year-old man serving time for two deaths in British Columbia – including that of a fellow inmate – has been charged with murder in the slaying of a former cult leader inside a New Brunswick prison.</p> <p>Matthew MacDonald of Port au Port, N.L., is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Roch “Moses” Theriault.</p> <p>Investigators say Theriault was found dead near his cell at a penitentiary in Dorchester, N.B., on Feb. 26.</p> <p>Police say Theriault, 63, was involved in an altercation with another inmate and died from his injuries.</p> <p>Theriault founded and led a notorious sect in the 1980s. It was first established in two Quebec towns, Sainte-Marie-de-Beauce and Saint-Jogues, then finally in Burnt River, Ont.</p> <p>Theriault, who wanted to be called Moses, was sentenced to life in prison in 1993 for the gruesome murder of his wife Solange Boilard, whom he disembowelled with a kitchen knife as part of a cult ritual.</p> <p>Theriault was engaged in physical and sexual abuse of members of the cult, including the amputation of the hand of one woman, Gabrielle Lavallee. Lavallee wrote a book about her experience.</p> <p>The cult leader had 22 children with women he held under his sway.</p> <p>The Correctional Service of Canada confirmed Friday that MacDonald was serving a life sentence at the Dorchester penitentiary for the second-degree murder of a taxi driver in Prince George, B.C, in 1985. He was also serving time for manslaughter involving another inmate at the William Head Institution years later.</p> <p>The Dorchester penitentiary is a medium-security facility southeast of Moncton that houses more than 400 inmates.</p> <p>MacDonald is scheduled to return to Moncton provincial court on May 13 to enter a plea.</p>
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