TEARS streaming down her face, heartbroken mum Fiona Namusoke stroked her teenage son’s lifeless body as he lay in a hospital bed. It was still warm.
Barely hours earlier Fiona, 42, had been on her way to pick him up in September 2023 when she received a devastating call telling her Ashraf Habimana had been stabbed.
Ash, from Luton, had been wrongly targeted by evil twin brothers Athif and Althaf Hussaindeen, then both 17, in a revenge attack over a petty Snapchat feud.
The 16-year-old was stabbed multiple times by a large zombie knife which sliced through his body and punctured his lung. He was treated at the scene and rushed to hospital, but doctors couldn’t save him.
Now his devastated mum Fiona is sharing her heartbreaking story in a bid to raise awareness of knife crime in the UK and the growing threat it poses to our children.
She says: “I’d only taken my son to school that day. My son was a good boy, he was so pure.”
Fiona, a single mum to two sons, tells how Ash was a hard-working student who was just two weeks into his A-Levels.
He was also incredibly dedicated and caring towards his brother Raayan, 19, who was diagnosed with severe autism aged 10 in 2016 and became non-verbal.
Fiona, a full-time carer for Raayan, says Ash naturally stepped into the role of big brother, despite being younger.
She says: “Ash was always like a young carer. He would feed Raayan, play with him and teach him how to count. It was beautiful. He loved his brother.”
Ash filled his time with interesting hobbies, enjoying swimming, basketball, playing guitar and listening to R&B.
In 2021, the family moved house from central Luton, where they’d lived for eight years, to a new home on the edge of Luton, near Dunstable.
Fiona says: “As Ash got older, it was his dream to work in cybersecurity.
“He wanted to help people from being scammed on the internet.
“I was so proud of him. Ash studied incredibly hard, and got great grades for his GCSEs.”
Final text
On the day of the attack, Fiona had dropped him off at school as normal.
“I said goodbye, and gave him £10 for some food or the bus,” she recalls.
“That afternoon I was giving Raayan a bath when I rang Ash to ask when his last lesson was.
“He told me he was going to get his favourite wrap with his friends. He asked me to collect him from the wrap place.
“After our call he texted me, ‘Are you going to pick me up now or later?’ to which I replied, ‘I’ll pick you up in a few minutes.’
“Just minutes later, I had a call from an unknown number. A man’s voice yelled that Ashraf had been stabbed. I realised it was my old neighbour.
“I didn’t believe it. I thought it was a prank.”
‘Please save my baby’
Fiona got Raayan dressed, put him in the car and sped towards their old house in Luton.
She pulled up to the road which was packed with frightened locals, ambulances and police.
Fiona says: “A lady I’d known for years rushed over, confirming it was Ash. She said he’d been stabbed by the wrap shop. Another boy too.
“I burst into tears, I couldn’t believe it. He’d only just texted me.
“I realised Ash was inside the ambulance, bleeding out. It was locked.
“I was hysterical, screaming for God to save my son, to please save my baby. He couldn’t die.”
I was hysterical, screaming for God to save my son, to please save my baby. He couldn’t die
Fiona Namusoke
Ash was blue-lighted to the hospital. There, Fiona was taken into a private room.
The family of the other boy who’d also been stabbed were there with her. But as a group of doctors entered, they asked to be alone with Fiona.
Fiona says: “They told me they’d done everything they could, but they couldn’t save Ash.
“I didn’t understand. I begged them desperately to keep trying.
“But they told me Ash was already dead. His lungs had been punctured.
“I collapsed to the floor, and blacked out.
“When I came to, they let me see Ash. There was a pool of blood underneath his bed.
“I touched his feet, and they were still warm. I was crying, begging him to wake up, but he wouldn’t. I’d never felt such pain before.”
‘His feet were still warm’
The following day police informed Fiona they’d arrested two young boys, who’d they’d tracked down through CCTV.
Athif and Althaf Hussaindeen, now 18, were twin brothers. Over the coming months, Fiona slowly discovered what had happened.
Petty Snapchat feud
Fiona says: “Earlier that day at school one of Ash’s good friends had got into a fight. He’d fought with the boy, Athif. Ash wasn’t there.
“Athif had been punched whilst being recorded on Snapchat.
“Humiliated, he went home, grabbed a large zombie knife he’d purchased online, and gathered his twin brother, Althaf.
“The teenage twin brothers, as well as other friends with knives, searched the area looking for Ash’s friend.
“Sadly, as they found him Ash was there, eating his wrap, waiting for the lift from me.
I touched his feet, and they were still warm. I was crying, begging him to wake up, but he wouldn’t. I’d never felt such pain before
Fiona Namusoke
“He had no idea what was happening. Ash was chased by the brothers.
“Althaf held Ash as he tried to run, whilst the other brother Athif stabbed Ash with the zombie knife three times in the back.
“The first time it went through Ash’s textbooks and calculator. But the other two times it sliced through his body, puncturing his vital organs including his lungs.
“Ash’s friend, the one they’d searched for, had also been stabbed but he’d survived.
“My heart was shattered. My son had no affiliation with gangs. He was innocent, unarmed and trying to get away to safety.
“He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Smirking killers
In October 2024, Fiona faced the twisted brothers at Luton Crown Court.
When the court was shown CCTV footage of Ash’s murder, Fiona couldn’t bear to watch.
After a lengthy trial Athif Hussaindeen was sentenced to 24 years after being found guilty of murdering Ash.
His brother Althaf Hussaindeen was given seven years after being found guilty of manslaughter.
Fiona says: “They laughed and smirked at me in tears.
“I’d only taken my son to school that day, I didn’t understand how this could happen.
“I’d always been a protective, strict mum, dropping and picking him up from everywhere.
“No time would make up for my losing my son, and Raayan losing his brother.”
‘Mothers must be vigilant’
Now Fiona refuses to let her son’s death be in vain and has started the Ashraf Habimana Foundation, dedicated to tackling knife crime and helping families affected.
Fiona says: “Our goal is to educate young children of how knives destroy lives, as well as encourage mothers to be more vigilant with their kids.
“Please check your children’s bags and bedrooms weekly. Become a detective, and even monitor their computer and phone use. It could save lives.
“Raayan can’t understand his brother is gone. Ash’s smile was contagious and I want him to be remembered for the love he had for everyone.”
Knife crime on the rise
IN the last 10 years there has been a shocking 87 per cent increase in the number of police-recorded offences involving a knife or sharp instrument.
In the 12 months to March 2024, 262 murders were committed involving a knife or sharp instrument.
In the same period, 57 young people aged under 25 were murdered – 17 under the age of 16 – by a knife or sharp weapon.
Over the past 10 years the number of teenagers killed with a knife or sharp object has increased by 240 per cent, from 22 to 53.
In the year ending September 2024, there was a devastating total of 55,008 knife-enabled offences.
Up to June of last year, the Met Police recorded offences involving a knife or sharp instrument in London generally had risen by 16 per cent over the past year.
In January Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick told The Sun the UK currently has a knife crime epidemic which is “completely out of control” in London.
Figures compiled by The Ben Kinsella Trust.
