Mother details daughter’s struggle to leave abusive relationship; says police were no help

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Fazila Ally and Bidraj Ganesh

 

 

 

By: La’Wanda McAllister 

A mother of seven was on Wednesday hacked to death, months after she escaped an abusive relationship with her reputed husband of over eight years.

Dead is 33-year-old Fazila Ally, who was employed as a cleaner at the Annandale Primary School located on the East Coast Demerara (ECD).

According to her family members, for months, Fazila fought to free herself from the grip of an abusive relationship. She endured years of violence, threats, and pleas for reconciliation. But in the end, the man she once called her partner took from her what she had fought so hard to reclaim—her life.

On Wednesday, the woman was found brutally butchered inside the home she once shared with her reputed husband at Annandale Sand Reef, ECD. Her body lay in a pool of blood, dressed in only a pink towel and a red crop top, with three deep wounds—one to her hand, another to her forehead, and the most devastating, a gaping 17-centimeter slash across the back of her neck.

The suspect, identified as 52-year-old carpenter Bidraj Ganesh, also known as ‘Boy,’ had already fled the scene. Faliza and Ganesh had an eight-year-old son.

Police stated that in December last year, during the Christmas season, she made the painful decision to leave after enduring years of abuse.

She had moved back to her mother’s home in Lusignan, ECD seeking safety and a fresh start. But Ganesh refused to let go.

In an interview with this publication, Faliza’s mother Babita Ally, said her daughter actually moved back home to her parents’ house in November. The woman said that for years her daughter has been brutally beaten by the suspect, and had left him on multiple occasions.

“He use threat my daughter bad and brutalise my daughter. When she was living there, any hours in the night she would call, we [Babita, Faliza’s father and family members] use to go over and get her. The last time he beat she and she decide to leave, she call and she said: ‘mommy me ain’t able with no more lash, he does beat me everytime’,” the tearful mother explained.

“But she said that his sister tell she that she have to pay him $400,000 before she can leave. So, she get the $100,000 cash grant and she draw $300,000 Christmas time and she put it together and she pay him and she come home”, Babita added.

“Since she come back, if her father is home, he would carry she to work and bring she back in the afternoon since the school is close to his (the suspect’s) house.”

Babita said that did not deter Ganesh from constantly harassing her daughter. She said that her daughter recently acquired a smartphone, and when the man learnt of this, he accused her of having another lover.

“Since she got the phone, it was share problems, he keep telling she about man this and that and that is a man buy the phone for her.”

The woman said even though Ganesh would accuse her of being with someone, he would repeatedly beg her to return to the relationship, but she stood firm. According to relatives, his desperation soon turned to threats.

On Wednesday, it was reported that Faliza went about her usual routine—she left for work at Annandale Primary School. Around midday, her mother said she spoke to her over the phone.

“She said she see two lipstick on TikTok and was going to buy it. I don’t know if he see she was passing and pull she in the yard or something because it is a lonely area. I don’t know what happened. I don’t know if they argued.”

Babita recalled minutes later, she received a call that her daughter was found dead in Ganesh’s home.

“When I reach there, all I see was blood everywhere. My daughter eye was open, her mouth was open. My daughter face was share blood. It was like if he did Qurbani on meh daughter,” the inconsolable mother said.

Babita said among the most heartbreaking details of the murder is the fact that Fazila’s eight-year-old son, was there when it happened.

The child, who had spent the previous night at his father’s house, told detectives that he had gone to his father’s sister’s home, located nearby, in the morning, to prepare for school.

After school ended at noon, he said he walked over to his father’s house, only to be locked outside. The child said he saw his parents inside, packing belongings together. Then, suddenly, the door slammed shut. Ten minutes later, he said his father walked out carrying a chopper and a bag slung over his shoulder. He got into a blue car and drove away.

When the child finally managed to get inside, he said he found his mother lying motionless on the ground, blood seeping from a deep wound to her hand. Terrified, he claimed he ran to his aunt’s house, screaming for help.

The police were summoned and by the time emergency responders arrived, it was too late. Fazila was pronounced dead.

Her body was later taken to the Memorial Gardens Mortuary, where a post-mortem examination is pending. Meanwhile, investigators launched a manhunt for Ganesh, who was on the run. He was later arrested. He reportedly attempted suicide and has since been hospitalised.

Police say they are gathering witness statements and reviewing nearby CCTV footage, though the only known camera near the scene is non-functional.

As the police continues their investigation, Babita said she wanted to bring to the public’s attention that for years, her daughter has been allegedly seeking help from the police, but to no avail.

“Several times he would beat the girl, broadside her with a cutlass. He burst a beer bottle in her head. He stabbed her in her face with a beer bottle, and he bore her in her foot. We went to Vigilance Police Station, they took no report , went to Annadale Outpost and they take no report. I don’t know why they were not taking our report. They would put us to sit down and don’t look after us…when we asked them, they said they not getting into man and woman story,” the woman recalled.

“Every time we go to the station, my daughter use to say ‘mommy, I coming here for help, and them not helping me, but when he kill me, all of them will come’. So as my daughter said, that is exactly what happen. About 40 of them come to remove her body.”

The woman is demanding not only justice, but better help from the system for victims of domestic violence.

“My daughter was a nice person. She doesn’t tell nobody anything, and she doesn’t make no fight. But now she dead, police coming.”

Babita said that even on the day when her daughter’s body was being removed from the scene, she openly mentioned that police officers were coming, now that her daughter was dead. She said instead of acknowledging that she was grieving, two police officer whipped out their phones and began “making up their mouths”, and videoing her.

“Imagine they take out their phone and was videoing me.”

As Ally’s family prepares for the heartbreaking task of burying her, her family demands swift justice for her death.

“I want justice for my daughter and I must have it, I must have it,” Babita said.

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