Baby Brother Tells the Story of a Brentford Killing

Documentary made about impact on the family of Ali Abucar Ali

Hassan Ali speaks of the pain and grief of his brother's loss

May 5, 2023

A documentary film called Baby Brother has been made about the impact of the senseless killing of Ali Abucar Ali as seen from the perspective of his older brother Hassan.

His 20-year-old younger sibling was randomly stabbed to death on Friday 12 November 2021 by paranoid schizophrenic Norris Henry shortly after he had used the knife to injure great-grandmother Betty Walsh.

A demonstration of the close-knit nature of the Brentford community was how Hassan’s first inkling of what had happened was when he heard from a friend, who was a relative of Betty, that she had been hurt. At that point he had no idea that his beloved brother had been killed by her attacker and it was only later that he become aware of the full horror of the situation after receiving frantic calls from his mother and sister who were unable to reach Ali on his phone.

Hassan tells in the powerful 14-minute film of the emotional journey he and his family have gone through since that day. The director is Nail Adam, a film maker who has lived in Brentford most of his adult life. He knew Hassan before the tragedy because Hassan was a friend of his younger brother. Nail also works for the Metropolitan Police as a dispatcher in a control room.

Nail Adam talks about his film at the BFI

He said, “When the news of the fatal stabbing of Ali happened, when I was on duty the following day, my colleagues quickly alerted me, knowing that I live in the area.

“This tragic incident is what drew me closer to Ali's story and inspired me to create the film.

“The documentary itself is actually centred on Hassan and his experience in losing a family member, a baby brother.”

Ali as a toddler

Initially, it was reported that Ali had been stabbed because he had intervened to save Betty and that was the initial inspiration for the film. However, the circumstances of what happened on that day are not totally clear, but it is now thought that the two stabbings were completely random. Despite this, Nail’s desire to produce a film on the story only grew as he spoke to the family and learned more about Ali as a person and his potential and how the loss had devastated the family.

Filming started a year after Ali’s death and Hassan talks of his struggles with the pain and grief over the previous 12 months but nevertheless, he contemplates the possibility of forgiving his killer although does not fell quite ready to do so.

Too early for Hassan to forgive his brother's killer

He speaks movingly about how the day unfolded from the mundane to the catastrophic and then goes on to talk about his close relationship with Ali and his admiration of his brother’s determination to get on in life. Ali had just finished a coaching session with Chiswick Gators at Chiswick Sports Hall where he volunteered to teach children basketball. He did this in his spare time while also studying accountancy at Kingston University and doing shifts for Amazon.

Over a thousand people turned up for funeral prayers for Ali

A week after his death over a thousand people turned out for funeral prayers at a Mosque in Southall with his former schoolfriends from Chiswick School, his fellow Kingston University students, the children and staff from Chiswick Gators joining his family in mourning.

Baby Brother, which is produced by Dutiful Films, recently had a private screening at the BFI attended by Brentford and Isleworth MP Ruth Cadbury and members of Ali’s family.

Members of the family attended a screening at the BFI

The documentary will now be submitted to film festivals taking place this year and released on YouTube in the autumn.

The film was in production before a court found that Norris Henry had killed Ali which constrained what could be said about the case but now Nail is planning on revisiting the project to produce a longer version that covers all aspects of Ali's story.