A British backpacker who was injured trying to save a woman as she was stabbed to death in Australia has died.
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Rosie Ayliffe has arrived in Australia from the United Kingdom to collect the ashes of her Mia, 21, who was killed during a frenzied knife attack at a hostel south of Townsville.
They are investigating whether Ayad may have had an obsession with Ayliffe-Chung.
“There is dark and evil in this world perpetrated by a few, but so much more love and light emanates from so many more”.
Meanwhile, Ayliffe-Chung’s mother has said that a passage from the Koran will be read out at her funeral.
She said: ‘Mr Speaker, people across Queensland and the world were shaken by the tragic events that unfolded in Home Hill last week.
Ayad is said by witnesses to have shouted “Allahu akbar” (“God is greatest”) during the attack. That thought will sustain us’.
A second victim, Tom Jackson, 30, passed away on Tuesday having sustained 15 stab wounds to the face while trying to intervene in the attack.
Frenchman Smail Ayad, 29, has been charged with Mia’s murder and will be formally charged with Mr Jackson’s murder at his next court appearance in Townsville on October 28.
“After talking about the misrepresentation of Mia’s death in the media as an act of terrorism on the part of an Islamic fundamentalist, the minister delivering the service suggested we include a Qur’anic reading, and he will find something suitable with a friend who is an Islamic scholar”, Ayliffe wrote in her Independent column.
Miss Ayliffe-Chung and Mr Jackson were attacked at Shelley’s Backpackers in Home Hill, a remote rural town in Queensland, last week.
She added: “Before he went to Australia he wasn’t in a good place and he couldn’t wait to get out there to enjoy himself and so that also he could concentrate on his writing”.
Superintendent Ray Rohweder of Queensland Police said there was an indication that Ayad had taken cannabis on Tuesday evening.
His dad, Les, today paid tribute to his “darling” son, who used to work at Liverpool restaurant Hanover Street Social, on a Youcaring fundraising page set up to help the family.
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She plans to have her ashes spread across the world so her daughter can reach the places she will never be able to visit.
