The widow of one of two Pakistani men killed by a car while heading to work in Malta last month has spoken about how she miscarried her five-month pregnancy a few days after hearing the shattering news.

Sheeza Ali, 29, said the death of Abbas Ali, 41, did not just mean the loss of a husband and father to their two daughters – Fatima and Aiza, age four and three – it also meant the loss of all the family’s income. Every month, Abbas sent money home to Pakistan to support his wife, two daughters as well as his mother and blind brother who all live under the same roof.

“I want justice for what happened to my husband,” said Sheeza.

“I just wish that the government of Malta would help us in some way after he died. We lost everything. We need support.”

Abbas and his colleague Faizan Muhammed, 33, were killed on their way to work when a car crashed into the motorcycle they were riding on Triq iż-Żejfa, Mosta, on May 6 at about 5.50am. Faizan was driving.

The driver of the Smart car that allegedly crossed lane and crashed into them, Karl Vella Petroni, is pleading not guilty to involuntarily causing their death.

Sheeza was speaking during a video call from her home in Pakistan with the help of Abbas’s cousin, Ibrar Baig, who lives in Malta and who acted as an interpreter.

‘They don’t know their father is dead’

During the call, Sheeza’s daughters kept waving at the camera and smiling. They do not know their father is dead.

“When I call them, they still ask to speak to their father. They don’t know their father is dead. They are too young,” said Ibrar, who is helping the family with the ongoing court case in Malta together with lawyer Matthew Xuereb.

Sheeza and Abbas got married in 2018. In 2020, he moved to Malta to work to send money to his wife and daughters and to his mother and blind brother who all live in the same house in the village of Mandi Bhalldin.

He sent money to them every month to pay for groceries and medicines.

I want justice for what happened to my husband- Abbas Ali's wife, Sheeza

“Here we have to pay for everything, even hospital and school,” she says.

Since then, the family reunited when Abbas visited Pakistan in August 2021 and again last November when he attended his brother’s wedding in December.

When he returned to Malta in January, he learnt that his wife was pregnant and planned a trip back in July to be present for the birth in August.

Initially, when he arrived in Malta, Abbas worked as a cleaner but then landed a job as a manual labourer at a marble factory in Dingli, through the help of Ibrar, a family friend of the factory owner.

Abbas Ali (right) with his cousin Ibrar Baig who is helping the family.

‘We were all shocked about how he died, he was loved by all’

That was where Abbas met Faizan. Both lived in St Paul’s Bay, in separate apartments, and travelled to work together every morning by motorcycle to start work at 6am at the Dingli factory.

Every morning before work, Abbas would call his wife and speak to his children, including on the day of the fatal accident.

That day Ibrar was in Italy for work when the owner of the factory called him to ask if Abbas was alright. Abbas and Faizan were late for work – which was very unusual – and other workers who arrived at that time said the road was closed due to an accident – they feared it might be their colleagues.

“I called Abbas and he did not answer. Then I sent someone to check,” Ibrar recalled. They soon found out both men had died.

Ibrar made the necessary arrangements to send the bodies back home to Pakistan.

He brings out his phone to show video footage of Abbas’s funeral – hundreds of people were present.

“He was very loved in the village. We were all shocked about how he died.”