Hassan, also Guyanese, with the three murders. Hassan, who attempted to flee to Toronto, was apprehended on a Greyhound bus less than 24 hours after the murders at a border crossing from Buffalo, NY, after an anonymous caller had tipped off the Royal Mounted Canadian Police.

He waived extradition in a New York state court and was returned to Jersey City on Friday. Hassan is scheduled to be arraigned in Central Judicial Processing court tomorrow.

As the hearses pulled up to the church around 10:30 am yesterday and the three white caskets were removed from the cars, relatives of Bernadette Seajattan wailed. Baldeo Seajattan had been married to his wife for 30 years, at least eight of which were spent apart while he was waiting for visas so he and their two daughters could come to the United States from Guyana.

During that time, he raised Sharon and Marlyn on his own, and the girls became very close to their father, friends said.

"He was especially close to the girls," said Rohan Prithpaul, 31, who attended the mass with his wife, Bibi, 29. "Now he don't have no one else but himself and his grandchildren."

Prithpaul, who like the Seajattans also hails from Leonora, described the sisters as hardworking, caring women who went out of their way to be good daughters to their father. The couple, who now live in Queens, NY, are friends of Baldeo Seajattan, who lost his wife and two children.

"They were very respectful and responsible women... they went to school, then they went to work... they weren't wild kids. He raised them all alone and he did a good job," Prithpaul added.

Donald Duesbury, a cousin of Hassan and Yassim who grew up with them in Guyana, said not only were the two women sisters, they were "loyal companions who shared a sisterhood beyond comparison."

Duesbury, who lives in Virginia, said the grief felt by the family is immeasurable. "There are no words to express our sorrow," he said, "but... we should celebrate their lives."

Marlyn Hassan, who had worked as a department manager at Chase Bank in Manhattan for seven years, was six-months pregnant with twins. Her sister, Sharon Yassin, was a homemaker, like her mother, and all three women were described as talkative, social and good cooks.

Following the morning mass, mourners joined a procession that drove past the Seajattan's house on Fox Place - the scene of last week's tragedy - and on to the North Arlington cemetery where they were buried.

At Holy Cross Cemetery, hundreds of people gathered around the three caskets, as Rev Thomas Thottungal said a prayer. Several of the female relatives broke down in tears, and cried out the names of the slain women, as they placed roses and carnations on top of their caskets.

By the grave, Shabeer Yassin, the father of the two boys, held his youngest son while saying goodbye to his wife as family members clung close to his side. Andrew held the hand of his grandfather.

Bibi Prithpaul said the family was still in a state of shock.

"It's still not something I can understand," she said. "Everyone is still very stressed... shocked."

Rohan Prithpaul said the mood felt in the Jersey City area was reflected in their homeland, where in the town of Leonora, Seajattan is a well-known man, having been a fireman and a taxi-cab driver. "Everyone is grieving there," he said. "He was very well known there ... People are saying their prayers for them."