A deranged man fatally stabbed a Sri Lankan grandmother just a block from her home in Staten Island, New York on Monday afternoon and then cradled the dying woman’s body until police arrived, authorities said.
Dantey Moore, 27, repeatedly knifed Geetha Howie, 63, in her face and chest, then slashed a neighbor who rushed outside to help, cop sources said.
Police said Moore lives a few blocks from where Howie was knifed at Bement Ave. and Bement Court in Randall Manor, but they believe she and her alleged killer were strangers.
Moore suffered from bouts of rage, and had been hospitalized for abusing the drug angel dust, two of his sisters told the Daily News.
“His anger was just building, building,” said one sibling, Cynthia Toye, 23. Recently, she added, he’d been fighting with his girlfriend.
“He’s just so stubborn, he thinks he has it under control, but we’ve seen him snap plenty of times. ... He’ll put holes in the wall.”
Both of Moore’s sisters said they’d never heard of Howie before Monday.
The assailant has been arrested 34 times since 2007, and he’s been busted in several domestic violence-related incidents, police sources said.
Neighborhood resident Mark Long said he heard screaming about 2:15 p.m. and went outside, where he encountered a horrific sight.
“The hand was going up and down ... his hand was holding a knife and that’s when I realized he’s stabbing and I said, ‘Hey, stop!’” Long recounted. “The guy stood up, he lunged at me, swung his knife out. He scored me in the arm.”
Long, 56, and the attacker backed up and faced each other.
“All I could think about is keeping his attention away from the woman. I just kept asking him, ‘What’s going on? What are you doing? Why are you hurting her?’ “ Long said.
“He didn’t really say anything to me at first and finally he said, ‘She cheated, she cheated with everyone,’ and I didn’t really know what that meant.”
That’s when Moore dropped his knife, crouched down behind Howie and held her, Long said.
“He just bent over and put his arms around her and he just stayed there until police and the ambulance showed up,” Long said.
“At one point, he was trying to cradle her with her head in his lap.”
Medics took Howie to Richmond University Medical Center, where she died about an hour later. He now faces charges of assault, criminal possession of a weapon and murder, police said.
Howie’s stunned relatives mourned at her home Monday night.
“It’s just a rough situation,” said son-in-law Daniel Fazzina. “She was an amazing woman. She loved her granddaughter.”
Fazzina suspects Moore was trying to rob Howie because she was returning from the bank.
Howie worked as a lab technician, and was getting ready to start a new job in New Jersey, he said. The family was also planning to travel to Sri Lanka for a wedding.
Howie doted on her 3-year-old granddaughter, Fazzina said.
“They were just inseparable and it’s just a senseless tragedy,” he said
Source: NY Daily News
-Agencies
