Youngest victim of Bondi terror attack remembered
Matilda Britvan, 10, the youngest victim of the Bondi Beach terror attack has been remembered by her family as ‘full of happiness’ and ‘always with an open heart’.
Matilda Britvan’s smile wasn’t just a smile. It was her whole personality. She was a genuinely happy child. One whose life was tragically cut short, shot while petting animals at the Bondi Beach Chanukah by the Sea.
At 6:47pm on Sunday, two men opened fire as Jewish community members celebrated the first night of Chanukah, killing 15 innocent people and injuring dozens more.
“I saw her a week ago. I was in Sydney visiting family and we went to the zoo. She was happy. The family was happy. And now it’s all gone,” Matilda’s aunt Lina told The AJN. “And now, I just can’t see the light. I can’t see myself being happy again.”
As Lina explained, Matilda, who at just 10-years-old is the youngest victim of the terror attack, and her younger sister Summer were at the petting zoo. Their parents, Michael and Valentyna, were watching nearby as the girls, with smiles planted firmly on their faces, petted the animals. They had spent the moments before enjoying the festivities, having their faces painted and eating doughnuts.
And then the shooting started.
At first, like many people in attendance, they thought it was fireworks.
That’s when Matilda was shot.
“My brother yelled to lie on the ground; they weren’t sure where the shots were coming from,” Lina said, explaining that a woman grabbed Summer and helped her take shelter. “That’s how she didn’t get injured. From what I understand, they were shooting exactly where Matilda was standing.”
Lina broke the news of Matilda’s passing on Facebook, writing “A great tragedy has happened to my family: yesterday my beloved niece Matilda was killed during a terrorist attack in Bondi Beach. I don’t know how we survive such grief.”
The post was flooded with hundreds comments, some from people who had seen Matilda shortly before the shooting started.
Lina told The AJN that her sister-in-law and community members grabbed Matilda and frantically began giving her first aid. Friends rushed to donate blood, attempting to save Matilda’s life. But, it was too late. She had lost too much blood.
“The doctors literally could not do anything,” Lina said through tears.
Unfortunately, Summer witnessed it all. While their parents went to the hospital with Matilda, Summer was with her grandmother. She kept asking whether her sister was dead.
“When you watch the news and something has happened somewhere, you feel sad. But when it’s your family, it’s beyond sad,” Lina said. At first she didn’t want to believe it was real, and that something like this could happen in Australia.
“She was so full of life, full of happiness. She was always with an open heart,” Lina said. “It’s devastating, especially with so much antisemitism going around before. I hope someone will be responsible and accountable for this.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up by Matilda’s language teacher to support the family.
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