Thalia Hakin's mother awakens to devastating realisation after Bourke Street killings
The grieving father, an injured sister and a heartbroken community have paid tribute to a kind little girl, killed in the Bourke Street rampage in Melbourne on Friday.
Thalia’s father gave a powerful account of the day his family was torn apart, but her mother’s injuries are so bad she could not leave hospital to farewell her daughter.
In a private funeral service shared via web-stream, Tony Hakin remembered his eldest daughter as vibrant and full of life.
“A beautiful baby whose face lit up the world,” Mr Hakin said.
“The kindness in her nature came out in her nature."
He told of his panic as he rushed to the scene of Friday’s rampage.
“In all of this, I can’t find Thalia, and there’s a blanket lying on the ground over on the side.”
Thalia’s mother is still critically ill in hospital, the painful truth only hitting her on Wednesday morning.
“Nathalie woke up and she goes, 'I know what happened. Some maniac went and hurt my family and I don’t know how to deal with it'," Mr Hakin said.
Among the mourners on Wednesday were Thalia’s injured sister Maggie, still in a wheelchair, and hundreds joining in prayer to remember the 10-year-old at St Kilda.
Family members comforted both Mr Hakin and Maggie.
“We can’t imagine what you are going through,” Rabbi Yehoshua Smulker told those gathered to farewell the little girl.
“We are all here to at least bestow brachas; blessings for strength, encouragement and support.”
That support then followed on foot, with a sea of mourners following the hearse.
There are now thousands of cards a Bourke Street, each offering a message of hope.
Plans are in motion to erect a permanent memorial to the victims, but it could be built somewhere else.
“I think somewhere away from the mall,” Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said.
“I’d like to see this being returned to being the centre of Melbourne that is ours.”
