Warning: Content below may be distressing.
The father of slain 10-year-old schoolgirl Thalia Hakin has shared his grief after his daughter's death in last Friday's horrific Bourke Street car rampage.
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Melbourne mourns Bourke Street victims
A simple story from student Henry Dow encapsulates the resilience and bravery of pedestrians in the midst of the chaos during the attack on Burke Street.
Tony Hakin spoke on Wednesday at Thalia's funeral, which was held at the Melbourne Chevra Kadisha Cemetery in Lyndhurst.
Thalia's nine-year-old sister Maggie, who was also caught up in the crush of pedestrians, sat in the front row in a wheelchair with a cast on her leg. Her mother, Nathalie, did not attend as she remains in hospital.
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"She (Thalia) was something special to everybody who ever met her," Mr Hakin said.
"She exuded kindness but she was a very pretty girl. She was pretty on the inside and pretty on the outside.
"I can't say enough about Thalia... I never expected this.
"I don't think I could have been more proud of a little girl from the day she was born to the day she died... that girl gave me pride, gave me joy."
Mr Hakin said his wife was so badly injured in the attack that she was not able to be told her daughter had passed away until just hours before Wednesday's service.
He said Nathalie wanted to pass on that Thalia was her "little butterfly, that she was a light in her life".
Photo: Penny Stephens
He also spoke about the frantic moments he experienced when his youngest daughter Maggie called him on Friday afternoon to tell him that her and her mother had been hit.
"I'm going 'Maggie, where's your mum?' and she said 'mum's on the ground, people are looking after her'," he said.
"I said 'where's Thalia?' and I'm not getting any answer from her and at that point I got that sickly feeling you get when something has gone wrong."
Mr Hakin said he ran from his office on Flinders Lane but was initially unable to get past a police road block. After they let him in, he said he found his family on the footpath badly injured.
"In all of this I can't find Thalia, and there's a blanket over on the side and there's blood coming out of it," he said.
"Thalia copped the full brunt of it, basically I think she died instantly, I don't think she would have known much about it. She had brain hemorrhaging.
"That was from a beautiful baby whose face lit up the world, the kindness in her nature came out in her face."
He said Thalia's Hebrew name was Sarah, a name which was associated with kindness.
"Thalia exuded that, Thalia was a kind kid, she never wanted to hurt people," he said.
"Thalia's passing on was only the result of something that was absolutely pure evil and that's the only thing that could take her."
During the service, Mr Hakin said his other daughter Maggie would now have to live without her sister.
"I don't know how she's coping with it, but she's been very brave; her sister will be proud of her," he said.
Rabbis who led prayers during the funeral also paid to tribute to Thalia, who was remembered as a girl "full of life, full of energy, always happy".
Earlier, family, friends and members of the Jewish community gathered to farewell Thalia at Beth Rivkah Ladies College in St Kilda East.
Hundreds of mourners lined the street as a hearse carrying Thalia's body drove by.