Hundreds of people walk Zara Aleena’s final steps one year on from her murder
The family of Zara Aleena led hundreds of people on a silent vigil one year on from her brutal murder in east London.
Crowds met at the street near where the 35-year-old aspiring lawyer was killed and walked the route she should have safely taken home that night.
Speaking at the vigil in Ilford, Zara’s aunt Farah Naz said: ‘She was so sweet, her voice was so sweet and at the same time she was a proponent for justice.
‘She was an aspiring lawyer, she had finished her qualifications, so we would also like to remember her as a fighter for justice and to stand in resistance with her, to stand in solidarity today with her, in their hearts and to work towards a vision of ending violence towards women and girls.’
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan was there with his wife and daughter and made a speech about the ‘epidemic of violence’ against women.
He said: ‘Zara’s not the first woman to be brutally murdered on our streets, and she’s not the last woman to be murdered on our streets.
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‘We have in our country an epidemic of violence against women and girls and my gender, my sex is responsible for violence against women and girls, so the mission today is to remember Zara, the mission is to give some comfort to Zara’s family.’
Andrea Simon, director of the End Violence against Women coalition, said: ‘There’s an awful lot of systemic change that needs to take place, but what we can never do is make women responsible for these changes.
‘It starts with men taking accountability and with agencies that exist to protect all of the public stepping up and ensuring that they stop making all of the same mistakes.’
Zara was sexually assaulted and beaten to death by serial offender Jordan McSweeney, 29, as she returned from a night out.
He had just been released from prison and followed a number of other women before attacking Zara.
McSweeney refused to face Zara’s family when he was jailed for life with a minimum term of 38 years in December.
Wes Streeting, Labour MP for Ilford North, added: ‘I hope that out of this awful, awful disaster for Zara’s family we can make sure that changes are made so that other families don’t have to go through this unimaginable loss.’
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