The parents of Kai Hao, the newly married man killed in Monday's bloody Brighton siege, had planned to move to Australia from China so he could look after them as they grew old.
Now those dreams lie in tatters after the 36-year-old hotel receptionist was gunned down by Yacqub Khayre simply for doing his job.
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Brighton siege: victim named
Kai Hao, a married father, has been identified as the man killed during the Brighton siege.
Mr Hao's mother, who did not want to be named, fought back tears on Wednesday as she paid tribute to her murdered son, who moved to Australia in 2002.
Their family had been torn apart by what happened, she said.
"I can't tell you how sad I feel and I can't tell you how much hatred I feel towards the terrorist who did that to my son," she said through an interpreter.
Mr Hao, also known as Nick, was married in Australia a month ago, his mother said, and he and his wife were planning a big wedding celebration back in China in August.
"But now I have to go back with his remains instead," she said
While Mr Hao was an Australian citizen, his parents are Chinese citizens holding temporary visas.
![Nick Hao with his wife on their wedding day](http://web.archive.org./web/20170611061539im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/m/g/y/o/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gwmgda.png/1496847636083.jpg)
They came to Australia last year with a plan to apply for residency but are not sure of the situation after Mr Hao's death.
"I was looking forward to being reunited with my son when I came to Australia but because of what happened two days ago I feel like my world has ended," she said.
![The mother of terror victim Nick Hao fights back tears as she remembers her son.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170611061539im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/m/h/4/i/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gwmgda.png/1496913860229.jpg)
"I can't describe how sad I feel right now."
Sobbing heavily as she remembered her son as a good man, the 63-year-old said she didn't know who was going to look after her and her partially paralysed husband in old age.
![Nick Hao was married last month.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170611061539im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/m/g/y/0/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gwmgda.png/1496847636083.jpg)
"When I sent my son to Australia I was happy to see him go to a new country but now I have to take him back to China in a box," she said.
She said that her son had worked very hard to make a life for himself in Australia, which included graduating from Monash University.
![A card for the Brighton terror victim left outside the apartment block where he was killed.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170611061539im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/m/1/q/q/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gwmgda.png/1496847636083.jpg)
"But now I send him off to work one day and he never came back," she said.
"I have to say I hate that terrorist who has torn my family part. And now my son is gone, all he has ever worked for in the past decade is all gone with him. We have nothing left."
![A note left on Wednesday morning at the scene of the Brighton siege for victim Kai Hao. At the time it was thought Mr ...](http://web.archive.org./web/20170611061539im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/m/8/4/a/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gwmgda.png/1496847636083.jpg)
Mr Hao's mother remembered how they would visit their son who would show them some of his new home's tourist attractions, including Phillip Island, the Botanic Gardens and Sovereign Hill.
She remembered a story of a visit to Sovereign Hill, where Mr Hao found it was difficult to push her husband's wheelchair. She offered to help, but he declined.
"He said to me 'Mum, I've brought you to Australia so I could be a son to you, to look after you and Dad. So you could have break and a bit of a rest," she said.
"But now my son's gone, my hope is gone, I am helpless. I don't know what to do in Australia."
Mr Hao's father and wife did not speak to the media.
Mr Hao was found dead in the foyer of the Buckingham International apartment block on Bay Street in Brighton after police were called to the scene by a sex worker taken hostage by Khayre.
The state coroner has ordered that the hostage's identity be suppressed.
Khayre was later shot and killed in a dramatic shootout with police.
A floral tribute has formed for Mr Hao at the front gate of the apartments with cards written in both English and Chinese.
One simply states: "We will miss you."
One elderly Brighton man who didn't want to be photographed paid his respects at the apartment complex on Wednesday, leaving a bouquet with a heartbreaking message.
In a card signed only "H.P.", the man paid his condolences to Mr Hao's wife, writing "we feel your sadness".
"It could have been any one of us," he wrote.