London: Australians Sara Zelenak and Kirsty Boden were stabbed to death while heading towards a crashed van their killers had abandoned during the London Bridge terror attacks, an inquest has heard.
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The 21-year-old nanny and 28-year-old nurse were murdered along with six others by Khuram Butt, Rachid Redouane and Youssef Zaghba on the night of June 3, 2017.
An inquest into the attacks in London has heard the three attackers used a van to run down dozens of people on the bridge before stabbing dozens more with 30cm ceramic kitchen knives in the nearby Borough Market.
England and Wales Chief Coroner Mark Lucraft QC described how Ms Zelenak, a live-in au pair, had been walking down a nearby street with a friend when they heard the sound of the crash at the end of the bridge.
Unknown to her the three men had already got out and started stabbing bystanders.
"She was with a friend and the two of the them walked a little way back to see what had happened," the coroner said in his opening remarks on Tuesday."She was stabbed multiple times."
Detective Superintendent Rebecca Riggs told the Old Bailey on Tuesday that Ms Zelenak, of Queensland, was viciously stabbed in the neck and body by Butt and the others.
Just around the corner Ms Boden, a South Australian nurse, heard the van crash while having dinner with two friends at the Borough Bistro.
Just like her compatriot she immediately went towards the crash, with the coroner explaining that she told her dinner companions she was going to see if anyone was hurt.
"Her immediate response was to leave the table where she was sat with her friends and to go to assist as she was a nurse," the coroner said.
In the meantime the attackers knifed French chef Sebastian Belanger, 36, before stabbing 26-year-old French waiter Alexandre Pigeard, who the South Australian Ms Boden then started to treat.
"Whilst Kirsty was trying to assist she was also attacked," Detective Inspector Riggs told the inquest.
After being stabbed in the chest by Butt, Ms Boden started running towards The Mudlark pub, but she collapsed and died from her injuries.
"The lives of many people were torn apart in what took place in less than 10 minutes of high and terrible drama," Judge Lucraft said.
Ms Boden's English partner James Holler said her brave actions that summer night would not have seemed unusual to anyone who knew her.
"To Kirsty it wouldn't have seemed brave, she loved people and lived her life helping others. To Kirsty her actions that night would have just been an extension of how she lived her life," he said.
"We are so unspeakably proud of her and not a day goes by that we are not in awe of her bravery that night."
The attackers went on to kill 32-year-old British web educator James McMullan and Spanish money laundering analyst Ignacio Echeverria, 39, who died trying to defend a woman by fighting off the trio with his skateboard.
All eight fatal attacks occurred in a three-minute period, while the attackers were shot dead by police 10 minutes after their van first mounted the curb on the bridge.
Ms Zelenak's mother Julie Wallace said that night "every sliding door slid for Sara to be in harm's way", echoing the sentiments of many victims' families.
Tragically Ms Zelenak had already escaped terror twice: she'd been at Westminster the day before a terror attack two months earlier and also had a ticket to the Ariana Grande concert that was bombed in Manchester but didn't go.
"Everyone that knew Sarz or lived in our town in the Redlands, Queensland, Australia has been affected. No one has ever died from a terrorist attack in the Redlands," Ms Wallace said.
"That only happens on TV in another country.
"It couldn't be real, I thought. Well unfortunately it does happen and it's a world problem."
The inquest is expected to run for about eight weeks.
AAP
