Find Hassema’s killers

RICHARDSON DHALAI AND LAUREL V WILLIAMS

SHOCK, disbelief and outrage were some of the words used to describe the murder of national award winner Haseena Ali who would have celebrated her 75th birthday today.

Fire officers discovered her partially burnt body on the ground floor of her home at South Gate Road in Freeport, on Friday afternoon.

Police from Central Division and Homicide Bureau Region III believe the killers set the house ablaze in an attempt to destroy evidence of the murder. Reports are that at about 1.30 pm, on Friday, residents saw the fire from the top floor of the split-level concrete house and contacted the Couva Fire Station.

They responded and when they contained the fire after 3 pm, they found her partially-burnt body with stab wounds. It was initially believed that she was shot and killed. An autopsy, however, revealed she received nine stabs to her head and back. She lived with her daughter, Naseema, who was not in the house at the time. By about 7 pm, the fire reignited and fire officers returned and contained the flames.

Ali’s funeral took place yesterday at 3.30 pm at the Masjid-un-Nur in Carapichaima.

Ali was the recipient of a Public Service Medal of Merit (Gold) award in 2012 and had a long and distinguished career in tax auditing, administration and policy. She also served on the Board of Inland Revenue as a commissioner and later as chairman and was also a member of the Salary Reviews Commission and a director on the board of the National Gas Company.

She was also an active member of the National Muslim Organisation of TT and also of her local masjid, the Carapichaima Muslim Jammat Association, where she was remembered by former tertiary education minister Fazal Karim as a dedicated person who performed many charitable works in the community. Both Karim and Ali attended the Carapichaima mosque.

In a telephone interview yesterday prior to attending Ali’s funeral, Karim said she was devoted in her secular and religious life.

"She was a very dedicated person in whatever she did, whether it was in official duties in the government service, whether at NGC, she worked with commitment, dedication and distinction. At the level of the mosque, she was involved in a lot of charitable works where she will be dearly missed by all. She lived well with her neighbours and was not known to offend any person."

Karim said Ali came from a highly respectable family and recalled that one of her brothers, Yusuff Ali, was a TTT pioneer having worked at both TTT and Radio 610 am.

"The family is deeply religious, very involved in community and I pay my tribute to Haseena Ali as someone, who would have made a significant, sterling and outstanding contribution to all peoples with whom she came into contact, and I am particularly proud to say she was a member of our jamaat and resident of Carapichaima."

He said Ali’s killing must not go unsolved and called on the police to bring the ones responsible for her death to justice.

"This is something that we condemn, the perpetrators must be found and swiftly brought to justice. I wish to also add my condemnation to the level of crime and criminality which stalks our land." Karim's former ministerial colleague, Kevin Ramnarine, who was minister of energy in the past administration, said in a tweet that he was "shocked and deeply saddened" to hear of Ali's murder. "I had the honour to work with her when she served as a director of the National Gas Company. A kind, humble and gentle human being has been taken from us," he said.

National Muslim Women Organisation treasurer Soriah Khan, who was initially at a loss for words to describe Ali and her impact on the Muslim community, agreed.

"She was always helpful, you can’t believe she would be taken so quickly or in that manner, words at this point in time can’t express the personality of that woman, she just gave and gave.

"In National Muslim Women, she was a pillar, she was always someone everyone looked up to and ask advice on how to go about things. It is a grave loss to our organisation."

Ummah T&T Muslim, a lobby group, also expressed shock and outrage saying members were at a "loss on how to react to this heinous crime which has robbed her family, the public service and the Islamic community of one of its most valuable assets."

"In conveying its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased, Ummah T&T is calling on the authorities to quickly apprehend the suspects who committed this dastardly act.

While Ummah T&T grieves for the loss of "this national treasure", the group was hurting especially since she was an active member of the Masjid-un-Nur in Carapichaima.

"Mrs Ali was a mother of one and her demise at the hands of her sadistic murderers must not go unpunished. Ummah T&T views her brutal slaying as the amputation of a vital organ in the body politic of the Islamic community."

Cpl Radhaykissoon of the Homicide Bureau is leading investigations.