A deranged man fatally stabbed Geetha Howie, 63, a Sri Lanka native in Staten Island, New York just a block from her home Monday afternoon and then cradled the dying woman’s body until police arrived, the Daily News reported

Dantey Moore, 27, repeatedly knifed Geetha in her face and chest, then slashed a Mark Long, a neighbor who rushed outside to help.

Moore lives a few blocks from where Howie’s house. But  both were  strangers.

Moore suffered from bouts of rage, and had been hospitalized for abusing the drug angel dust, two of his sisters told the Daily News.

He had been arrested 34 times since 2007, and he’s been busted in several domestic violence-related incidents, police said.

Mark Long said he heard screaming about 2:15 p.m. and went outside, where he encountered a horrific sight. ‘The hand was going up and down ... his hand was holding a knife and that’s when I realized he’s stabbing and I said, ‘Hey, stop!’” Long recounted. The guy stood up, he lunged at me, swung his knife out. He scored me in the arm.’

Long, 56, and the attacker backed up and faced each other.

‘All I could think about is keeping his attention away from the woman. I just kept asking him, ‘What’s going on? What are you doing? Why are you hurting her?’  Long said.

‘He didn’t really say anything to me at first and finally he said, ‘She cheated, she cheated with everyone,’ and I didn’t really know what that meant.’

That’s when Moore dropped his knife, crouched down behind Howie and held her, Long said.

Medics took Howie to Richmond University Medical Center, where she died about an hour later.

Howie’s stunned relatives mourned at her home Monday night.

Howie’s son-in-law Daniel Fazzina suspects Moore was trying to rob Howie because she was returning from the bank.

Howie worked as a lab technician, and was getting ready to start a new job in New Jersey, he said. The family was also planning to travel to Sri Lanka for a wedding.

Howie doted on her 3-year-old granddaughter, Fazzina said. ‘They were just inseparable and it’s just a senseless tragedy,’ he said.