11-30-2010, 01:04 PM
Herald Sun AUS news.
ZAHRA Baker's father and grandmother are in hiding, under police protection, as public anger surges.
The police protection will cover the planned memorial service this week for the murdered Australian 10-year-old, the Townsville Bulletin said.
Adam and Karen Baker have vowed that verbal abuse and intimidation will not deter them from honouring Zahra, as happened during the candlelight vigil on November 16 attended by more than 1000 on what would have been her 11th birthday.
The service, on Thursday, will be held in a chapel that seats about 200 people.
No funeral can be held until police complete their investigation into the disappearance and death of the little girl, a two-time cancer survivor who had a prosthetic leg and also suffered from impaired hearing.
The Baker family will throw open the doors of the memorial service to the public, saying they understand that others need closure too - everyone who helped look for Zahra over that agonising five-week period, the police investigators, emergency workers, her school mates, close friends and neighbours, and complete strangers whose lives were touched by her story.
Her grieving father and grandmother will be in the front pew of the church service to be held at the Drum Funeral Home in Hickory before the Reverend Larry Cooley, saying this time they refuse to be cowed by public vilification into not attending the memorial to Zahra's life.
"This time we're not going to stay away because people think we should," Karen Baker said, speaking exclusively to the Townsville Bulletin from her hideaway.
"We can't have a funeral for our baby because the police have not released her body, and we don't know how long it will take for them to give her back to us.
ZAHRA Baker's father and grandmother are in hiding, under police protection, as public anger surges.
The police protection will cover the planned memorial service this week for the murdered Australian 10-year-old, the Townsville Bulletin said.
Adam and Karen Baker have vowed that verbal abuse and intimidation will not deter them from honouring Zahra, as happened during the candlelight vigil on November 16 attended by more than 1000 on what would have been her 11th birthday.
The service, on Thursday, will be held in a chapel that seats about 200 people.
No funeral can be held until police complete their investigation into the disappearance and death of the little girl, a two-time cancer survivor who had a prosthetic leg and also suffered from impaired hearing.
The Baker family will throw open the doors of the memorial service to the public, saying they understand that others need closure too - everyone who helped look for Zahra over that agonising five-week period, the police investigators, emergency workers, her school mates, close friends and neighbours, and complete strangers whose lives were touched by her story.
Her grieving father and grandmother will be in the front pew of the church service to be held at the Drum Funeral Home in Hickory before the Reverend Larry Cooley, saying this time they refuse to be cowed by public vilification into not attending the memorial to Zahra's life.
"This time we're not going to stay away because people think we should," Karen Baker said, speaking exclusively to the Townsville Bulletin from her hideaway.
"We can't have a funeral for our baby because the police have not released her body, and we don't know how long it will take for them to give her back to us.