Our daughter was killed after escaping two other atrocities
THE youngest victim of the London Bridge terror attack dodged two other atrocities before she was killed, her family has revealed.
Au pair Sara Zelenak gave away her ticket to the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester which was targeted by a suicide bomber.
And, incredibly, the 21-year-old was on Westminster Bridge less than 24 hours before a terrorist struck there.
But tragic Sara lost her life when she spent an evening with friends at the capital’s Borough Market where four knife-wielding fanatics ran amok five years ago this Friday.
Her mum Julie Wallace, 55, said: “It was a crazy ‘sliding doors’ situation. She’d avoided two terror attacks in the weeks before.”
Referring to her daughter by her nickname, she added: “Sarz had no idea she had walked into a terror attack. She was bending down to help someone else when the attackers stabbed her three times.
“That was Sara: caring, loving and selfless to the end.”
Julie and Sara’s stepdad Mark, who live in Australia, have founded a grief charity in their beloved girl’s name – Sarz Sanctuary.
Mark, 54, said: “Our new purpose in life is to change the way the world deals with trauma. We feel Sara’s spirit has guided us.”
Sara had only been in Britain a few months when she died. Julie said: “She was the happiest she’d been in her whole life. Every time I spoke to her she was talking about places she’d been in London.”
The couple called her on March 22, 2017, when they heard terrorist Khalid Masood had killed four people by running them over on Westminster Bridge before stabbing a policeman to death.
Julie said: “I remember the relief when she said she’d been on the bridge the day before.”
On May 22, Sara told them she couldn’t go to see pop star Ariana at Manchester Arena because of a work clash.
Salman Abedi’s bomb killed 23 fans leaving the concert.
But she was in Borough Market on June 3 when Khuram Butt, Rachid Redouane and Youssef Zaghba went on the rampage.
Sara was one of eight people they murdered. Julie said: “It took four days until we could go and see her at the morgue. The first thing I did was hold her hand to say ‘Goodbye, I love you.’”
Tireless charity and fundraising work has led to the Sarz Sanctuary being launched. From Wednesday, it will give therapy with approved counsellors to anyone suffering from PTSD, trauma or any lifechanging issues.
Julie said: “Sara was someone who cared. She would love what we’re
doing.”
Sarz was helping someone else when she was stabbed
JULIE WALLACE MUM OF TRAGIC SARA ZELENAK