Immediately, Ali had a clash of personalities with Liz Burton's son Justin as the pair did not get on. Things got worse for Ali as Justin spiraled towards drug addiction, smoking marijuana, since the pair shared a bedroom. At school, Justin started hanging out with a boy called Steven Mackintosh who sold him the marijuana. Ali was bullied by both Justin and Macki, but as an intelligent and sensitive child, Ali's natural response to this was to ignore the bullying. Ali then made friends with new girlNicole Owen. Back at home Ali tried to tell both Liz and Richard how he couldn't live with Justin. Little action was taken and it got out of control when Justin pushed Ali's sister, Darlene, through a window. This led to Darlene having a scar and Justin being sent to a boot camp. When Justin returned, Ali could not forgive him, despite Justin trying to tell Ali that he had changed for the better. Eventually, Ali began to believe Justin as the pair began to get along better. Ali started to develop feelings for Nicole, but he never managed to tell how he felt about her as she had fallen for Justin. Despite Nicole fancying his step brother Ali's relationship with Justin became stronger. Ali and Justin's friendship had not gone unnoticed by Macki, who had become angry that Justin didn't want tohang out with him and his gang or buy drugs off him anymore. Macki started to bully Justin and Ali. Ali suffered racial abuse and was called names like Monkey boy. Despite confiding with his sister Darlene, the pair still could not shake off Macki's bullying as it got from bad to worse. In the end it got so bad that both Ali and Justin would not even step outside their house and Justin bought a hunting knife for protection. The knife was found by Ali's dad, Richard who put it in a safe place. Ali then reached breaking point as could not confide in his parents or teachers and decided to take matters in his own hands and it was Ali's unrequited crush on Nicole that eventually proved his undoing. After Nicole rebuked him for being a coward, Ali took the knife, that Richard had confiscated from Justin, from its hiding place and sought out Macki alone. Ali went looking for Macki and challenged him to a fight, Macki led Ali to a deserted area and whilst Ali's back was turned and picked up a brick. Meanwhile, Justin and Darlene found the knife had gone missing and went looking for Ali. The two split up and Justin saw Ali, just as Macki was about to swing the brick. Justin quickly yelled at Ali to watch out and as Macki was about to hit him with a brick, Ali managed to turn around just in time and as an act of self-defence Ali stabbed and killed Macki. Justin then ran up to Ali and told him to give him the knife and run home whilst he would deal with the knife. Scared by his actions, Ali ran in fear as he ran straight out into the street and was hit by a car. Darlene reached Ali just in time to see the accident happen and rode with him in the ambulance. Later in hospital both Ali and Macki died, and Justin hid the knife in the hospital toilets. Days later, Justin was arrested for Macki's murder. However, he was found not guilty.
