Mourners gather for the funeral of terror attack victim 14-year-old Sayyad Milne at the Memorial Park Cemetery in Christchurch. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Mourners gather for the funeral of terror attack victim 14-year-old Sayyad Milne at the Memorial Park Cemetery in Christchurch. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Sayyad Milne was shy yet sweet, his family said. He was a brilliant goalkeeper. His name meant proud or brave.
And today he was laid to rest, dead at just 14 years old.
The Cashmere High School student's final resting place was the corner of a cemetery in Christchurch's easternsuburbs.
He was buried along with Tariq Omar, 24. The two, who were unrelated, died at the hands of a gunman in the Al Noor Mosque on Friday. In all, 50 people died in the shootings.
At a temporary mosque, the male mourners crowded around the shrouded bodies and headscarved women stood back. Armed police officers were stationed around the perimeter of the cemetery.
The body of terror attack victim Tariq Omar is carried by mourners during his funeral at the Memorial Park Cemetery in Christchurch today. Photo / Mark Mitchell
"It's so hard ... to see him just gunned down by someone who didn't care about anyone or anything," said his father John, who lives in Tauranga.
"I know where he is. I know he's at peace."
Omar died while attending prayers with his mother Rosemary. She had dropped him off at the mosque's entrance while she went to find a carpark, and heard gunshots erupt inside.
The tragic nature of the two men's deaths meant some traditions were not possible at their funerals.
The funeral would usually take place in a mosque. But both of Christchurch's two mosques are still being cleaned up after Friday's massacre, so a gazebo has been set up at the site.
The bodies would usually be buried within a day. Their burials today came six days after the disaster, after being held by police for official identification. They were buried minutes apart.
