An off-duty police officer was stabbed to death on Saturday afternoon in Dangriga. The constable is ever Ulizer Morales who was attached to the Special Branch Unit. He was transferred to Dangriga three months ago. Tonight the only thing more troubling than the constable's senseless murder is what possessed his killer.
The accused killer is 25-year-old Giovanni Tasher - an ordinarily sane man, with no history of mental illness, who for unknown reasons went mad. Tasher's family says the only explanation for his actions is that he was possessed. They say Constable Ever Morales was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Here's their story.
Salomie Tasher, Sister of Killer
"I saw a long knife with blood and I started crying and I told my mom that he killed somebody and my mom started to cry and all of us started to cry. We said he killed someone and we started crying. And he took the knife and he licked off all the blood. He licked the blood off the knife."
It's gory but that's what this man - Giovanni Tasher did after he brutally bludgeoned off duty police man Ever Morales on Saturday evening in Dangriga. But to understand what he did - Giovanni's family says you have to understand why. His sister Salomie says it began a week ago after he returned from lunch at his girlfriend's house.
Salomie Tasher,
"He was telling his friend that he felt bad and his friend told him that maybe he needed to use the bathroom and he told his friend he was going to use the bathroom. So I didn't pay it any mind and after he finished using the bathroom and he came outside, he said he still felt bad but he didn't know what it was he had just come from eating."
That was Sunday and by Thursday of last week - Giovanni's condition had deteriorated
and he became violent. He even attacked his sister Salomie and she still has the scars to prove it.
Salomie Tasher,
"When my mom got there I know he went up to her and he hugged and he told his mom that he did something to him and he called this person's name but I won't say it. He said that the person did something to him and after he said to my mom his face looked, his eyes got red red red and he looked funny and my mom automatically turned from him and she started crying and she asked what was wrong with her son. And while she was crying, he went back downstairs and continued acting crazy and thing like that."
Salomie says she went to the police for help but she claims none was forthcoming.
Salomie Tasher,
"I went to the police station and it was one thing to get their assistance. They had me turning around, turning around. First two police officers came and they said we should get a psychiatrist because something is wrong, like he is mentally ill or something and they didn't even assist us and he was violent and they couldn't do anything."
The family eventually managed to check Giovanni into the Rockview Hospital but he didn't stay there long. On Saturday one of his brothers went to visit him - and Giovanni used the opportunity to escape. When Giovanni arrived in Dangriga on Saturday afternoon he headed straight to his family's home where more of his deranged fury was unleashed.
Sylvia Andrews, Mother of Accused
"Then he started to act violent and he was grabbing up a lady, grabbing up the neighbors, and he was grabbing up everybody and scratching them and I said told them to run and we locked the door and I saw him beating the guy and beating the neighbor. Then he started to throw some pint bottles at the kids."
The calm Giovanni seen here on his id was on Saturday evening a raving while his family ran out of harm's way - Constable Ever Morales couldn't. He was simply buying fish when he came face to face with Giovanni Tasher.
Salomie Tasher,
"There was this guy walking. I didn't know he was a police, my neighbor, this police was my neighbor and he lived in the back, I didn't know it was him until afterwards. But I saw this guy walking without shirt and a red pants and I saw when we went back way and I told my mom that Giovanni is beating that police, I didn't know he was killed."
The constable was killed - brutally. Police had to shoot Giovanni 4 times to subdue him. That is because Giovanni's family says he isn't crazy - he is possessed.
Salomie Tasher,
"I think he is demon possessed because his eyes get red when he is mad and when he is not mad he cries to us. I am hoarse because I am trying to explain to people something is wrong with this guy, crazy people don't6 do things like that. Crazy people are in their own world and he is not normal. He is not. And those people, the family, I am sorry for them because their loved one would have been here if the police would have helped us. I really want them to hold him, don't let him get away because people are in danger."
Giovanni's uncle Arthur Andrews is one of the few family members who have seen and to Giovanni since Saturday's melee in Dangriga.
Arthur Andrews,
"I asked him if he was alright and he put his hands over his face and I asked if he knew what he was doing here, if he knew why he was in here and he shook his head and told me that he doesn't remember anything."
Giovanni Tasher is tonight after police guard at the KHMH. He is handcuffed to his bed. Giovanni's brother who drove him back to Dangriga on Saturday is still detained. The Tasher family has offered to assist ever Morales' family with funeral expenses.
