Zahra Abdille called one of her closest friends from a shelter for abused women last year, saying she was scared of her husband, concerned for her children and felt lost about what to do.

Friend and fellow nurse Sonia Berry told the Toronto Star she realized Abdille was in serious danger when she answered a call from her in the shelter at Dr. Roz’s Healing Place last July.

Berry studied nursing with Abdille in the early 2000s and the pair had been close friends for a decade. Abdille had confided that her husband was controlling. She knew her friend’s relationship was volatile. She knew her friend lived in fear for years.

When Berry heard reports Saturday night of a triple homicide in the Thorncliffe apartment Abdille lived in, she “had this nagging suspicion it could be them.”

She sent Abdille a text message asking how she was. She never got a response.

“I couldn’t believe it when I saw on the news that it was them. Even though I knew all the past, I just couldn’t believe it,” Berry told the Star.

Abdille, 43, and her two sons, Faris, 13, and Zain, 8, were murdered in a third-floor unit at the apartment complex Saturday afternoon. On Wednesday, Toronto police confirmed that her husband, Yusuf Abdille, tumbled from a bridge above the nearby Don Valley Parkway a few hours before investigators found his families’ bodies. He was then struck by a Toyota Prius travelling southbound.

Const. David Hopkinson told the Star police have “absolutely not” ruled out Yusuf Abdille, 50, as a suspect in the triple homicide.

When Abdille called Berry from the women’s shelter last year, she said she was afraid, but most of all she was concerned for her children.

Abdille, a Toronto Public Health nurse, told Berry she was taking time off work to care for her children and support them during their stay in the shelter.

Abdille let her sons call their father once a day from the shelter because she knew they missed him, Berry said.

“She was struggling with what to do when people from her community reached out to her and said her husband had contacted them and he was very sorry for what he had done,” said Berry, who was reluctant to explain the couple’s conflict.

“They encouraged her to go back home and work things out with him so she did.”

Abdille left the women’s shelter on July 23, telling staff she was moving her children into a private rental in downtown Toronto, said Roz Roach, executive director of Dr. Roz’s Healing Place.

However, Berry said that her friend moved straight back into the Thorncliffe apartment she had run from three weeks earlier.

“I knew she was scared, but I don’t think she thought he would ever hurt the kids and that’s probably why she went back,” Berry said.

“Everything she did was for her kids. She made the decisions based on what was best for her children — not herself,” she said.

About six weeks ago, Berry met Abdille for lunch and she could tell her situation at home was dangerous, “but I didn’t think it was serious to the point that he would do what he’s done, or what they believe he has done,” she said.

Berry told Abdille she could come and stay with her if she did not feel safe at home. Abdille told her: “I would never go to any friend because he would find me there.”

Zahra Abdille was born in Somalia and grew up in Kenya before moving to Canada in the late 1990s. She met Yusuf Abdille in 1997 and the couple married in Toronto a year later, according to her file at Dr. Roz’s Healing Place.

Berry said Abdille’s aunt in Kenya is trying to fly the three bodies home for the funerals.

For the past 10 years, Berry has kept a photograph of herself, Abdille and Faris on the door of her refrigerator.

“People may think of them as being victims in this situation, but Zahra was a very strong person,” Berry said.

“She was always trying to better herself to provide a better life for her kids.”

Abdille raised Faris while she was completing her degree at the Humber College and University of New Brunswick bachelor of nursing program. She gave birth to Zain just 10 days before her graduation in 2006 — Berry said she was in the delivery room.

Abdille started working as a public health nurse in the spring of 2007, City of Toronto spokeswoman Jackie DeSouza told the Star.

The nurse went on to complete her master’s degree and a nurse practitioner’s certificate at Ryerson University in 2012.

Dr. Luisa Barton, faculty and co-ordinator of Ryerson University’s nurse practitioner program, said Abdille was a “bright, hard-working, intelligent and compassionate student.”

“She was actually very special,” Barton told the Star.

Barton had been Abdille’s professor for two years and said she was well-liked by everyone in the program: “We are totally heartbroken,” she said.

“This is a reminder to us all that violence against women certainly transcends all cultures and social economic statuses.”

Hussein Jaffer, 30, spent four years studying with Abdille in the Humber College nursing program.

Abdille was a “very friendly person” who was soft-spoken, practical and conscientious, he said.

Jaffer, who now works as a nurse at St. Michael’s Hospital, said he only kept in touch with Abdille via email every few months.

About two weeks ago, he bumped into Abdille on the subway and said “she remembered everything about me.”

“We talked about work and she told me her family was well,” he said.

Police are now calling for anyone with information about the death of Yusuf Abdille on the DVP on Saturday to come forward.

Source:insidehalton.com