Home Correspondent
Over £100,000 has been raised in memory of a young Muslim man of Somali heritage who is being hailed a hero after he died protecting a grandmother from a knifeman in west London.
Ali Abucar Ali, 20, was stabbed to death by a stranger after stepping in to help 82-year-old Betty Walsh.
The widow had been punched and knifed outside a kebab shop near her home. Basketball coach Ali collapsed in Albany Parade, Brentford, on the evening of November 12.
Walsh, a mother of six, was seriously injured but is no longer in a critical condition after kidney surgery.
Ali’s mother had rushed to comfort Betty’s family before she got the devastating news from police that her son had been knifed to death.
Speaking about Ali, Walsh’s eldest daughter, Bridget, 60, said, “I knew him and his mother. They are a very good family. His mother had rushed to comfort me as soon as she heard about what happened to mum, before the police phoned her and told her the devastating news that her son had so sadly been stabbed. Ali was a really hardworking, good lad who had recently won a scholarship; we think it was to play basketball.”
A childhood friend of Ali’s told Metro.co.uk: “Ali was the youngest in the family, just 20 years old studying at university to be a great inspiration to us all. He was a boy loved by everyone in the Brentford and Chiswick community as he spent so much time coaching children basketball, a sport which he loved.”
“Ali was the most genuine, loyal, caring individual I’ve ever met in my life,” Michael Kwentoh, a former junior international basketball player who founded the club where Ali worked, said.
He added: “He just didn’t deserve what happened to him. He was just so innocent, so pure,” said Kwentoh.”
He said Ali coached boys between the ages of six and 10, and “made them feel like they were stars”. “He’d just make you believe in you more than you believe in yourself,” he added.
As of November 19 crowd-funding page for Ali has raised £103,358 beating its original £50,000 target and over 200 donors paid tribute to Ali. On the GoFundMe page, well wishers called Ali a ‘brave young man’ and an ‘upstanding member of our local community’. Samale Nur wrote, ‘Ali was such a wonderful young man who always encouraged my sons to do their best while coaching them in basketball. A true selfless hero.’
Abdulsatar Abdi Aden, who set up the crowd-funding page, said: ‘We lost a dear brother, the most caring, humble, funniest young man. Don’t have a single memory of him without seeing his amazing smile. Al ham dulilah fore he prayed salatul jummah and as we know we dont know when allah is going to take us, for his time has come, he was murdered by the hand of a man who has taken his sins.’
Gay McAuley Williams wrote ‘Dear Ali, all Brentford salutes you. Your courage and kindness will never be forgotten.’
Norris Henry, 37, of Brentford, appeared before Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court on November 15 charged with Ali’s murder and the attempted murder of Walsh.
Henry, who lives near the scene of the attacks, allegedly used a 30cm knife – first stabbing Walsh in the back and then Ali in the chest before running away. The court heard the attacks in Albany Parade were unprovoked. Henry appeared at the Old Bailey via video link from Wormwood Scrubs for a preliminary hearing.
He spoke to confirm his identity and the judge set out a timetable for the case, setting a plea hearing for February 21. Henry has been remanded in custody.