Tributes paid to victims of Jersey stabbing massacre

THE teacher of one of the children believed to have been killed after their father went on a knife rampage on Jersey described them as “little angels” yesterday.

Dominika Nalichowska said 6-year-old Kinga Rzeszowski and her brother Kasper, 2, were “beautiful” children with blue eyes and blonde hair.

Their father, named locally as Damian Rzeszowski, 30, is also believed to have stabbed his wife Izabela Rzeszowski, 30, to death along with her father, known only as Marek, her friend Marta de la Haye, 34, and her 5-year-old daughter Julia. He then turned the knife on himself.

He has been arrested and remains under police guard at Jersey General Hospital as police wait to question him over Sunday’s attacks in the capital, St Helier.

Ms Nalichowska, 29, who taught Kinga at her Saturday school, said her friend Mrs Rzeszowski had told her that they were having problems with their marriage and that Rzeszowski had taken an overdose of pills less than a month ago after suffering from depression.

“He was a very calm and quiet person so I don’t know if it was because everything was bottled up inside him,” said Ms Nalichowska.

“I don’t know what happened to cause such a sudden outburst.”

She said the family had just returned from a trip to visit family in Poland on Saturday or Sunday and suggested the stress of travelling, coupled with the depression, could have contributed.

Describing Rzeszowski, she said: “He was a very peaceful man, we’ve never seen him lose his temper so it’s hard to believe what made him turn in that way.”

She said his wife was a “beautiful young woman, slender, tall, she was very attractive.

“She was very nice to talk to as well, very easygoing.

“Both of them loved each other, they’d been together for about 10 years, but they had been having problems lately, as every couple does.”

Ms Nalichowska said Kinga had turned 6 in November, adding: “I think she was a bit quiet but the children loved her anyway.

“Kasper was a little bit younger, he was small, I think they both took after her [their mother].

“They were like little angels with their blue eyes and blonde hair.”

Ms Nalichowska said she believed the family had lived on the island for around six years.

Ms Nalichowska said that her boyfriend, named Kordian Berkolec, 47, a natural healer, had offered to give the couple therapy for free as they were friends but they had not got round to doing it, although he had seen Mrs Rzeszowski on her own.

Police are still working to establish a motive for the murders, which have rocked the island community.

Earlier, the results of the first post-mortem examination were disclosed, which found that one of the two women had died of multiple stab wounds.

Post-mortem tests on the other victims will be carried out by a Home Office pathologist over the next few days.

A large white tent could be seen in front of the flats yesterday, while a cordon remains in front of a large section of the private road along with a grassy wooded area in front.

House-to-house inquiries are under way while forensic examination of the scene by the States of Jersey Police Forensic team, supported by experts from the Devon and& Cornwall force, was continuing.

Family liaison officers are working with the two families involved in the incident, supported by Polish-speaking officers and staff.

The attack spilled from a flat in Victoria Crescent and into the street on Sunday afternoon in an area described by a detective as “one of the safest places in the western world”.

Neighbours have spoken of how they fended off the “mumbling” knifeman with a traffic cone as he chased one of the women before turning the weapon on himself.

Another witness saw the two little girls’ lifeless bodies carried out of the flats by paramedics covered in blood.

A police officer on guard at the cordon said he had counted 47 flower tributes that had been left by mid-morning yesterday, along with a number of children’s cuddly toys.

One card read: “May the angels look after you now.

“God bless. Staff and children at Centrepoint Trust.”

Detective Superintendent Stewart Gull, who is leading the murder investigation, said: “This is an extremely complex investigation, involving two young families and, inevitably, impacting on a whole community, and our inquiry continues to establish exactly what happened on that fateful afternoon last weekend.