Ever since his house was destroyed in a fire last February, Michael Ali had been working 15-hour days doing two jobs to get money to support his family. Whenever his wife Annie lost hope, Ali would urge her to be strong saying he would rebuild their home bigger and better.
But on Saturday night, the family’s hopes came crashing down when Ali was murdered by a man he knew during a dispute over money.
Police said Ali, 31, of 482 SS Erin Road, Quarry Village, Siparia, went to a bar-b-que stall close to his home to speak to the man when the assailant pulled out a knife and stabbed him once in the abdomen. Ali was rushed to the San Fernando General Hospital where he died around 1 am yesterday.
During a tearful interview, Annie said their lives went topsy-turvey when their home at Skinner Street was destroyed in a fire last February. With their little savings, the family went to live at the home of Annie’s uncle Jaglal Singh. They built a one-room annex out of plyboard behind Singh’s home and tried to restart their life. Ali began working as a PH-driver and a part time construction worker, she said, so they could build up savings to restart things.
“My husband would work long hours. He would wake up at 5.30 am and run PH for a man. He had to pay him $150 daily because it was not his car, but he worked and worked and saved,” Annie said.
At times when she would despair, Ali would console her saying he needed her to be strong, she recalled.
“We lived together for eight years. He would say, ‘baby, I am trying. Stand with me. I will build back the house,’” Annie told the T&T Guardian.
She said last week Ali got a job in Princes Town to cast a yard for a client. He hired a man to help him do the job, but Ali said the client did not pay all the money and Ali got into financial difficulties because he still had to pay the car owner $150 daily for using the vehicle for transport, Annie explained.
She said the man Ali owed for the job became frustrated and began demanding his money, so her uncle initially intervened.
“He came by our house on Saturday and started to cuss. Eventually I gave him $200 from my own pocket and sent him away,” Singh recalled.
He explained that Ali became incensed by the worker’s actions and while on his way home on Saturday afternoon, he stopped at a bar-b-que stall. Police said he had a dispute there with a man who stabbed him.
Saying she did not know how to go through life without her husband, whom she lived with for eight years, Annie said the murder was unjustified.
“I don’t know what to do. I cannot believe he is gone,” she wept. Singh said the family was now in desperate need of help. Anyone wanting to assist the family can contact Annie at 620-2989.
Police have since arrested a 52-year-old suspect and seized a weapon. An autopsy has been scheduled for today at the Forensic Science Centre, St James. Southern Division police are continuing investigations.