Jersey mourns after three adults and three children murdered in knife attack

Victims were from two local Polish families, and a 30-year-old man remains under guard in hospital It had been a weekend of celebration for the Polish community on Jersey. Tourists were joining with locals to sample Polish food and music, while many Catholics had been marking the feast of Our Lady of Czestochowa . But by mid-afternoon on Sunday, the grim news was spreading across – and shocking – the island. Three children and three adults from two families had been killed in the capital, St Helier. Witnesses had seen blood, bodies and distraught emergency workers at a Victorian house of flats in a well-to-do part of town. Thousands of Poles have made their homes on Jersey, thousands more visit the island, and as it emerged that all six victims – and a man suspected of killing them – were Polish, local people were putting names to the dead. Neighbours and the Polish embassy said all the victims were of Polish descent. Four were members of one family, covering three generations – a man, a woman thought to be his daughter, a six-year-old girl and an 18-month-old boy. A mother and child from a second family also died. Police confirmed the larger family were all Polish, as was the 30-year-old suspect, named locally as Damian Rzeszowski. He was under guard in a Jersey hospital after undergoing surgery for knife wounds. He is suspected of killing his wife, children and father-in-law. Some reports on the island suggested his wounds were self-inflicted and that he had been suicidal over the breakdown of his marriage. Friends of the arrested man described the dead as “almost the perfect family”. At a mass in a Catholic church in St Martin, near Jersey’s capital, a family friend, Jakub Bartus, named Rzeszowski’s wife as Izabela Rzeszowski. Bartus’s wife, Marlena, said she had not seen the family since last September, but had always been touched by how happy they were. “They were a lovely family, lovely kids. They were almost the perfect family. The children loved playing with their Mega Bloks and he used to push them in a trailer. The way we had seen him, he was a really good father.” Jakub Bartus said: “It is so sad. This is something that should not happen. There are lots of questions that need to be answered. It’s such a tragedy. “I can’t understand why the kids were involved. This is not about them. They are innocent,” he added. Marlena Bartus said she believed the boy was aged about two and the daughter was about five or six. Her own son played with the boy as they were the same age. Police could not state the nationality of the other victims and said identification might take days. A Home Office pathologist has arrived in Jersey to conduct postmortems, the results of which may not be released until the end of the week. Thousands of people have visited a Facebook page to honour those who died on the island. The attack appeared to have spilled from a flat in Victoria Crescent and on to the street in an area described by a detective as “one of the safest places in the western world”. Bryan Ogesa described how he and two friends used a traffic cone to try to defend themselves as a man came towards them. Another local man, who identified himself as John, said paramedics on the scene were in tears. Detective Superintendent Stewart Gull, who is leading the investigation, told a press conference that two victims were found outside the building and four inside. No motive was known for the killings and it would be “pure speculation” to try to guess, he added. Mike Bowron, chief of the island’s police, said: “No one could fail to be affected by the events that unfolded here. Inevitably, perhaps, such an incident will raise tensions locally, and I would appeal to everyone to remain calm and dignified and allow my officers to continue with what is a complex, demanding and difficult investigation.” Jersey’s chief minister, Senator Terry Le Sueur, said: “This has greatly shocked the island’s community. Many will need support and counselling in the days ahead and we will ensure this is provided.” The killings happened as St Helier was nearing the end of a three-day festival of food and live music celebrating Jersey’s Polish links. There are around 3,000 Polish people on the island, which has a total population of 92,500. The event continued until 10pm, according to organiser Magda Chimielewska, as some visitors remained unaware of what had happened. “It was an incredibly hard task. We could not close or not run it. In general, people are very sad, people are crying, they are shocked. It is such a shame what has happened. It could happen anywhere but it happened to us and we are getting together. “The Polish community gets on with the local community so well,” added Chimielewska. “It was amazing, locals trying our food, singing our songs. Jersey is a beautiful place, people are open to other nationalities.” The head of Jersey’s Roman Catholics, Monsignor Nicholas France, said: “In a small island like this, I would say it is a wound for the whole family.” Polish residents had their own priest, he added. “They do not all know each other and are scattered around the island. This is a very important time of the year for the Polish community because they are celebrating the great feast of Our Lady of Czestochowa, the patron and queen of the Polish nation. We will be turning to her and praying to her shrine in the church down the road here.” Jersey Channel Islands Europe Crime Caroline Davies James Meikle guardian.co.uk

Posted by on August 15, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.