)
Kirsty Boden and Sara Zelenak, Australian victims of the London Borough Market attacks.
THE two Australians who died in the London Bridge terror attacks were stabbed to death — one in the neck, the other in the chest, a Coroner’s Court has heard.
Coroner Andrew Harris briefly opened the inquest into the deaths of five of the eight people killed by the terrorists on June 3.
Two Australian women, Sara Zelenak, 21, and Kirsty Boden, 28, were tragically killed.
Ms Zelenak’s mother Julie Wallace and stepfather Mark Wallace were in the Southwark Coroner’s Court today for the opening of proceedings, just a few hundred metres from where the attacks took place.
RELATED: Aussie London victim speaks out
Sara Zelenak. Picture: APSource:AP
Kirsty Boden. Picture: AFPSource:AFP
Coroner Harris told the Wallaces, who were sitting at the front of the court: “All of our thoughts and condolences are with you at this terrible time, one of the most horrible things is for parents to be in court hearing the details of a death, particularly a violent one, of their children.’’
Metropolitan Police investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector Simon Moring told the hearing in relation to Ms Zelenak’s death: “The provisional cause of death was the stab wound to the neck. Identification was done by dental records and DNA.’’
Julie and Mark Wallace, mother and stepfather of Sara Zelenak, leave Southwark Coroner's Court in London.Source:Supplied
Ms Zelenak was stabbed on the Borough High Street after leaving a restaurant with a friend and fellow nanny, Pri Goncalves, who escaped the carnage.
The court also heard that Ms Boden, a nurse at the nearby Guy’s Hospital, was attacked on Montague Close, near Southwark Cathedral behind the Borough Market, as she ran to help others.
The Coroner said the cause of her death was an “incised wound to the chest”.
RELATED: The face of the Westminster attack recovers
Youssef Zaghba, Khuram Shazad Butt and Rachid Redouane carried out the horrific terror attack on London Bridge. Picture: AFPSource:AFP
The three terrorists — Khuram Butt, 27, Rachid Radouane, 30, and Youssef Zaghba, 22, drove a rented van at high speed down London Bridge, running down pedestrians, before leaping out on the Borough High Street and stabbing people.
They were armed with ceramic knives with 30-centimetre blades and had assembled fake suicide belts to make it appear they were armed with explosives.
They killed eight people and wounded 48 more.
Armed police officersat a memorial for the London Bridge victims. Picture: AFPSource:AFP
There has been an outpouring of public mourning over the London Bridge tragedy.Source:AFP
Police shot them dead at 10.16pm, eight minutes after receiving the first calls for help.
Inquests into five of the deaths were opened today — Ms Zelenak, Ms Boden, James McMullen, 32, of Hackney, Sebastien Belanger, 36, of France, and Igancio Echeverria, 39, of Spain. All were stabbed to death.
Inquests into the deaths of Christine Archibald, 30, of Canada, Xavier Thomas, 45, of France, and a third French citizen, Alexandre Pigeard, 27, will start tomorrow.
Ms Archibald and Mr Thomas were both hit by the van while Mr Pigeard was stabbed in the restaurant where he was working.
)
