Relatives and neighbours of the three kids killed by their uncle in Recourse, rural St Andrew on Tuesday night, reflect on the bizarre killing.(Photo: Devon Chin)

"I am tired, I am tired," mumbled Emily Taylor yesterday.
And she seemed distinctly weary, sitting on the old wooden chair in a well-tended rural backyard in the St Andrew village of Recourse, a good way up the Blue Mountains, about 10 miles north-east of Mavis Bank.

"I am tired. I am tired."

She sighed, lifting her hands from her face.

Five year-old Antonique Headlam (right) and her cousin, Abigail Miller, managed to escape after their machete-wielding uncle went berserk, killing three of their cousins and wounding three others in Recourse, St Andrew. Antonique had to hide under a bus, while Abigail ran into a relative's house. (Photo: Devon Chin)

The deep wrinkles suggests and age even older than her 66.

"I am tired," she said.

But it was not physical fatigue.

It's a more complex burden. Trying to make sense of what happened.

Of the machete attack the evening before by her son, Melton Haase, that left three small children (his nieces) dead - Tiana Christie, five months-old; Peta-Gaye Patterson, six; and Brenda-Lee Dinnal, six. Haase injured three other persons, one of them his sister.

Haase was later cornered, or tricked into giving himself up, by people in the community and himself was hacked to death.

"We tell Wiseman (Haase) we a go carry him go to the doctor and him come and drop the cutlass," said one man. This was after a long stand-off, with Haase evading an angry mob.
When Haase finally came out of the bushes where he was hiding, he was given no chance.

"We chop him till you can't tell eye from nose or mouth," claimed one man. "Even him tongue chop out. Every time him get chop, him hiccup, till we chop off him head clean."

Yesterday men drank in the community bars. All round people discussed the previous night's events. And drank.
"No one leave the community today," according to one woman.

They were showing solidarity with the grieving families.
The orgy of killing started in the evening. At about 7:00 pm, people in the district say.

No one was certain what triggered the attack, but Haase, also called "Wiseman" was said by some to have been acting strangely in recent times.

His sister, Hermalee Taylor, 29, was walking in the district with baby Tiana when she was confronted by Haase, who chopped her several times - in her back, face, and hand. She is in critical condition in hospital. When Hermalee dropped Tiana, Hasse turned on the baby and quickly hacked her to death. One of the baby's hands was severed.

"The baby dead and lay down in her blood for a long time," a neighbour recounted through heavy sobs. "Him was still running up and down through the bushes and everyone catch them fraid. One dog eat up the whole a the baby face."
Soon after Haase saw two of his other sisters walking on the road with his young nieces. The six-year-olds.

Threatening to kill his entire family, Haase is said to have made after the group. The little girls and their aunts, according to community residents, ran in opposite directions.

Haase pursued the children, quickly caught them. He chopped them in the head. They fell dead on the spot.
His other victims were Mildred Willis, 65, and Howard Hibbert. Both were in hospital last night.

Willis was on her way home, apparently oblivious to what had taken place in the district, when she was attacked. She lost four fingers on her right hand and her left leg was almost chopped off. She received serious wounds to her head.

Hibbert, was chopped in his head and was described as being near to death by residents.

"Him get more than one chop, but the one to the head make you see him marrow," according to one man. "Him look next to death."

Taylor, his mother, was lucky. She was attacked but sought refuge in a daughter's house. But he hacked at the wooden door. They escaped through a back window.

Antonique Headlam, five, another of Haase's nieces, was also lucky. She too would have been a victim but had the presence of mind to hide under a bus. Another niece, Abigail Miller, seven, ran hard and escaped.

Haase spared one life, Kareem, seven, his nephew. As he chopped the two six-year-old girls, he told Kareem not to run. He promised not to hurt the little boy, who yesterday was clearly traumatised.

"I was frightened," Kareem said yesterday.
Other people were, too. And yesterday people said it was not the kind of thing they would ever expect to happen in their community.

"This is a sad day for the entire community," said Alvin Francis, the Jamaica Labour Party councillor for the district.
Peta-Gaye's and Brenda-Lee's teacher, Una Grant, was distraught.

"This is very painful," she said. "They were two quiet and bright girls."

There was not a good word for Haase.
"All now him shoulda get chop," his sister, Veronica Taylor said.

Said one man, who didn't give his name: "Him was me friend, but him have to go down for the wickedness him do." While others drank beer and rum this man lit a ganja cigarette.

Haase was said to be acting strangely on Sunday and a relative told the Observer that Haase had informed them of his intentions beforehand.

There were plenty of theories about why the incident happened.

Said one relative: "Him always say him going do him family things because them have house and pickney and him nuh have none. Him say him family kill him nature (sex drive)."

There were also suggestions that he was mentally challenged.

"Him just bad mind," said a man who claimed to have known Hasse all his life. "Him just always watch what others have and if him did mad, a him bad mind mad him."

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