A family member holds a portrait of 10-year-old Matilda, as mourners gather near tributes at the Bondi Pavilion in memory to her and the other victims of the Bondi Beach shooting. Photo / Saeed Khan / AFP
The family of the youngest victim of the Bondi massacre cried until they had “no tears left” when they returned to the scene of the attack.
Matilda Britvan, 10, was one of 15 people killed by a father and son who targeted a Hanukkah festival in Sydney on Sunday.
At a beachside memorial on Tuesday, Matilda’s family, including her parents, paid tribute to the young girl who was shot in front of her 6-year-old sister.
Lina Chernykh, Matilda’s aunt, said they would remember her not for the horrific way she died, but for the smile she had on her face at the petting zoo set up for children at the Hanukkah party.
“She was playing with the animals, and now she’s gone,” Chernykh told the Telegraph in Bondi.
“I was just thinking it can’t be true.”
Matilda was rushed to hospital after the attack, while relatives comforted her 6-year-old sister, Summer, who witnessed the shooting. Matilda died on the operating table before the family could say goodbye.
“Summer can’t stop crying, and now she doesn’t have tears left,” Chernykh said. “And I think I don’t have tears anymore … they’ve all gone now.”
One of Matilda’s cousins, Georgy Chernykh, said Summer was “numb”.
“She’s probably not super aware of what’s going on, but there’s going to be a moment where it’s gonna click and she needs the right help,” Georgy Chernykh told the Telegraph as he pushed for more government support.
“I would love a handshake or an apology, but I don’t know if I’m gonna get it,” he added.
Valentyna, Matilda’s mother, said she could not fathom how the “monster” who killed her daughter could fire at a little girl running for cover.
“I can’t imagine what is a monster that stands on that bridge, and seeing a little girl running for her father to hide with him, and he just pulled the trigger on her,” she said at a vigil on Tuesday.
“It wasn’t an accident.”
Gesturing to her heart, she said: “It stays here, just stays here and here”.
Michael Britvan, Matilda’s father, clutched a framed photograph of his daughter as he asked the crowd to never forget the “beautiful person” she was.
He urged people to draw bees on social media in memory of Matilda, whose middle name was Bee.
“Just remember the name, remember her,” he said.
Matilda’s brother said he was comforted by the knowledge his sister would have felt loved.
“She knew she was loved, that she wasn’t alone,” he said.
The family paused at the floral tributes to lay a pair of Matilda’s shoes among the flowers.
Nearby, a group of Israeli volunteers waited to be let into the crime scene to search for blood spilled by the victims – and the killers – during Sunday’s massacre.
Once the blood is collected, and their bodies are released by investigators, the Jewish victims can be buried in line with their faith.
“According to Jewish law, it’s important to collect every drop of blood,” said Simcha Greinman, spokesman for the Zaka group, which also led the collection of bodies after the October 7 terror attack in Israel.
“We deal with non-Jews and Jews ... there’s no question, no judging, there’s understanding that humanity has to be done the proper way and giving the proper respect ... even the terrorists.”
In the absence of her body, Matilda’s family were looking for ways to process their grief.
Her grandparents, Lena and David Britvan, had been so devastated that they couldn’t get out of bed for two days, but they wanted to see the thousands of floral tributes supporters had left at Bondi.
Their visit coincided with the arrival of Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce, leaders of Australia’s hard-right One Nation party, who were greeted with cheers from mourners calling for Anthony Albanese, the Prime Minister, to be given “the sack”.
Hanson made headlines last month for wearing a burka in Parliament. The One Nation party is listed as an emerging hate group in Australia by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism.
Several people shouted “Pauline for PM” and “change the laws”.
Hanson and Joyce, who have long railed against immigration, denounced the attackers, Indian national Sajid Akram and his son Naveed, and claimed that Albanese had been pushing for gun reform to distract from the real threat to Australians.
The pair were challenged by a member of the crowd who pointed out that Ahmed al Ahmed, the “hero” who tackled Naveed, had migrated from Syria.
“[Ahmed] didn’t murder people,” Joyce replied. “The others have absolutely proved what they are. They are human filth, and anybody who wants to abide by them can go.”
Australians are tolerant people, he said, but “there are certain people we will not be inclusive of”.
Lina Chernykh, whose family migrated from Ukraine in 1994, said immigration was not the problem but that the federal government should be more discerning about who it allows to remain in the country.
Australia should only allow migrants who share “values of peace and happiness, not hate”.
Albanese again reiterated on Tuesday that the Government was working to tighten the gun laws that had allowed Sajid Akram to legally own six high-powered hunting rifles.
Sussan Ley, the opposition leader, said her coalition would consider supporting “sensible, proportionate” reforms to come out of the emergency national cabinet meetings.
But she said Albanese must not use the discussion to deflect from his Government’s mishandling of rising anti-Semitism in Australia.
“The national cabinet that needs to happen is the one that we called for months ago, a national cabinet on anti-Semitism,” Ley said.
She spent at least an hour at the memorial on Tuesday, as did Joyce and Hanson who mingled with the crowd and hugged mourners.
It prompted people there to question why the Prime Minister had not returned to the scene.
Albanese did lay some of the first floral tributes at Bondi on Monday, but his visit was brief and so early in the morning that most Jewish community members missed the opportunity to see him.
The sea of flowers swelled so much on Tuesday that mourners were forced to queue to drop off their bouquets.
Among those in the line was 26-year-old Bridget Sarcs, the person to first raise the alarm when the father and son terrorists began their attack.
Sarcs saw Sajid get out of a car, and at first “felt sorry” for him as she thought he was an elderly man carrying crutches.
“We pulled up next to the perpetrator’s car,” Sarcs said. “We saw him get out of the car, and saw him fall over. We thought he was picking up crutches.
“But he instantly started shooting. I was screaming at people to run. We’re just lucky that we got away.”
Many others had stories of survival, of near misses, and traumatic flashbacks of the bloodshed.
They took comfort in religious leaders such as Rabbi Eli Feldman, who was also coming to terms with his own losses.
“These attacks happen when people focus on what divides us, not what unites us,” he said.
Feldman helped raise money for the family of murdered Rabbi Eli Schlanger, who leaves behind his wife who was shot in the back but survived, and their five children, including a 2-month-old son.
“The money will help them keep the lights on, pay the rent, put food on the table,” Feldman said.
Supporters had donated just under A$1m ($1.15m) for the families by Tuesday. A gofundme campaign for hero Ahmed Al Ahmed has raised $2.3m.
Matilda’s family said they would return every cent if it meant they could see the little girl one more time.
“We want happy Matilda running on the beach,” Chernykh said.
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