Agony of the parents told: Your daughter died of stab to neck in London Bridge horror
THE mother of a nanny killed in the London Bridge terror attack has heard how her daughter died from a knife wound to the neck.
Julie Wallace sat quietly in a coroner’s court yesterday as a police officer outlined the final moments of her daughter Sara Zelenak.
The 21-year-old Australian au pair was enjoying a night out with friends when she was attacked by one of the fanatics.
Eight people were murdered on June 3, when three attackers ploughed into pedestrians with a white van before stabbing revellers in Borough Market with 12-inch ceramic knives.
Miss Zelenak was only in the London Bridge area that night because she had been given the night off.
Inquests into five of the eight victims of the atrocity were opened at Southwark Coroner’s Court yesterday. The other three will be opened today.
Mrs Wallace and her husband Mark held hands as they arrived at the court. The couple initially had no idea what had happened to Miss Zelenak and phoned every hospital in London in an attempt to find her. They then flew from their home in Brisbane to London to continue the search. Scotland Yard confirmed she had died four days after the attack. Detective Chief Inspector Simon Moring told the court yesterday that Miss Zelenak’s ‘provisional cause of death was the stab wound to the neck’.
The fatal injuries suffered by four other victims were also outlined. James McMullan, 32, of Hackney, east London, died from a haemorrhage caused by a knife wound to his chest in Borough Market. He was identified by his father.
Chef Sebastien Belanger, 36, originally from Angers in western France, was drinking at the nearby Boro Bistro restaurant when he was repeatedly stabbed in the chest. He was identified by dental records and fingerprints. Nurse Kirsty Boden, 28, was also killed by a knife wound to the chest after running towards the danger in a selfless attempt to save lives. The Australian, who worked at Guy’s Hospital, was found in the shadow of Southwark Cathedral. She was later identified by DNA and dental records. Ignacio Echeverria, from As Pontes in northern Spain, was stabbed in the back on London Bridge as he tried to defend a woman with his skateboard. The body of the 39-year- old HSBC analyst was identified by his brother several days later, the court was told. The hearing was suspended by coroner Andrew Harris so that the police operation was not hampered. Inquests into the three other victims – Canadian Christine Archibald, 30, Frenchmen Xavier Thomas, 45, and Alexandre Pigeard, 27 – will be opened this morning. Armed police shot the three terrorists dead – ringleader Khuram Butt, 27, and two accomplices Rachid Redouane, 30, and Youssef Zaghba, 22. A date for the opening of inquests into their deaths has yet to be set.