Boy,16, and cousin in court for killing Haseena

A 16-YEAR-OLD boy and one of his cousins are expected to appear before a Chaguanas magistrate this morning charged with the murder of national award winner Haseena Ali, 74. Legal officer PC Kyrn Lewis, of the Homicide Bureau Region III, submitted a file last week to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for instructions on the matter.

Yesterday DPP Roger Gaspard instructed police to charge the suspects with murder. The boy and his cousin, a 28-year-old mason, live at Tunapuna. Police said the boy is a school dropout.

On November 2, fire officers who responded to a report of a fire discovered the partially burnt body of Ali on the ground floor of her home at South Gate Road in Freeport. An autopsy done the next day at the Forensic Sciences Centre in St James revealed she received nine stabs to her head and back.

Ali, the recipient of a Public Service Medal of Merit (Gold) award in 2012, lived with her daughter who was not in the house at the time of the murder. Ali 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.

WPC Valdez was expected to formally lay the charge last night.