I don’t recall killing woman

THE UNHINGED man who fatally stabbed a Staten Island grandmother told police he doesn’t remember repeatedly plunging the knife into the helpless stranger, police sources said Tuesday.

When questioned by detectives, Dantey Moore (photo below) said he recalled getting off a bus and buying a loose cigarette from a man on the street near Castleton and North Burgher Aves. around 2 p.m. Monday.

The next thing he remembered, he was under arrest and medics were treating cuts he got on his hands from wielding a knife.

In between, the 27-year-old Moore stabbed Geetha Howie (below right), 63, in her face and chest at Bement Ave. and Bement Court in Randall Manor and then cradled the dying woman’s bleeding body, police and witnesses said.

When officers arrived, they found Moore’s hands covered with blood and the knife nearby, cops said.

“He doesn’t remember why he did it,” said a police source.

Howie was attacked a block from her home and about three blocks from where Moore had gotten off the bus, witnesses said. Medics rushed her to Richmond University Medical Center, where she died of her injuries.

On the GoFundMe website, Howie’s son-in-law Daniel Fazzina wrote she had been excited to be going to her native Sri Lanka to celebrate her nephew’s wedding.

“We were all anticipating a joyous celebration and family reunion,” he wrote. “Instead, we find ourselves in the midst of an unspeakable tragedy.”

He called Howie a “kind spirit willing to help everyone.”

“Geetha was a strong woman with a big heart, who loved her family dearly. She took great pleasure in showing love through serving others.”

The fund-raising page had taken in $150 out of a $20,000 goal as of late Tuesday afternoon.

Police charged Moore with murder, assault and weapons possession. He is also accused of slashing 56-year-old Mark Long, a neighbor who ran out of his house to stop the attack, police said.

Moore lives a few blocks from Howie, but the two didn’t know each other, according to police sources.

Witnesses told police Moore was seen behaving erratically and trying to open car doors in the area a few minutes before the attack.

Moore said he participated in a work force program Monday morning until about noon, when he got on a city bus to go home. He’s been arrested 34 times since 2007, mostly for violating orders of protection banning him from being near family members and his girlfriend, with whom he has been fighting.

Moore’s most recent arrest before Monday was on June 16, when he broke into his girlfriend’s Corson Ave. home, violating an order of protection, while she was inside.

Moore pleaded guilty to violating the order of protection and was sentenced to city probation until 2020, officials said.

Howie’s neighbors were stunned Moore got probation.

“What’s this guy doing on the streets with 30 prior arrests?” asked Ed Donovan, Howie’s neighbor for more than 25 years. “What’s the matter with New York?”