The mother of Kai Hao, the building clerk killed during a siege at an apartment complex in the Melbourne suburb of Brighton on Monday evening, has said she “hates” the man who murdered her son and was now all alone in her old age.
She moved from China to Melbourne to be with her son, but would be taking his remains back to China, she told a press conference in Melbourne on Wednesday.
Hao was her only son and the parents had relied on him to provide for them when they were old, she said.
“Now, I send him off to work one day and he never came back and I don’t know what’s going to happen,” she told reporters through an interpreter on Wednesday.
She says she hates the man who murdered her son. She came to Melbourne for his wedding and will take his remains home in a box. pic.twitter.com/JrpZpySSPU
— Paul Dowsley (@pauldowsley7) June 7, 2017
The mother, who did not want to be identified by name, said she hated the man who killed her son. “I have to say I hate that terrorist who has tore my family apart,” she said.
Kai studied at Monash University after arriving in Australia in 2002. He was married only weeks ago and was due to return to China with his family for a wedding banquet to celebrate.
“We were planning to host a huge wedding banquet at the end of August in China but now I have to go back with his remains instead,” his 63-year-old mother said.
His mother said they had used all her husband’s savings in sending Kai to Australia and were destitute without him.
“All he has ever worked for in the past decade is gone with him,” she said. “We have nothing left.”
The 36-year-old was killed while working in the reception area of the serviced apartment complex by Yacqub Khayre, a Somali-born Australian. Khayre, 29, shot Hao when he first arrived at the apartment complex at around 4pm, before taking hostage a Colombian sex worker he had arranged to meet in one of the ground-floor apartments.
Khayre, who was on parole for offences including aggravated burglary and theft, emerged from the Buckingham International serviced apartments on Monday at 6pm and began firing at police who had surrounded the building, injuring three police officers before he was shot dead. During a phone call made to a Channel Seven newsroom before he opened fire, Khayre declared an affiliation to the terrorist group Isis.
Hao, known as ‘Nick,’ was a 36-year-old Australian national born in China and was recently married. He was not named until Wednesday morning to give police time to inform his family..
Revealing the victim’s identity on 3AW radio, Malcolm Turnbull said: “Kai Hao, a dad, has been killed by a terrorist in Melbourne, Australia. A heartbreaking crime.”\
The prime minister said there would be a “serious discussion” with the states about parole decisions for people on terror watchlists at a meeting of Coag on Friday.
“I don’t want to make this a partisan or political issue,” he said. “What we know about Khayre was that he had terrorist connections, he trained overseas with a terrorist organisation ... he clearly had terrorist associations and connections.
“What I want to make sure is that people with these characteristics with a history of violence and a connection with extremism ... that that is taken into account and they should not be let out on parole.”
On Wednesday Victoria police said Hao did not have any children, correcting information they gave on Tuesday that he was a father.
In a rare interview, the chairman of the Victorian adult parole board, Judge Peter Couzens, told 3AW the board was not told of any ongoing concerns about Khayre in relation to terrorism.
“Can I assure you that we were not told anything along those lines, either at the time of making the order … nor subsequently,” he said.
Khayre was released from jail on parole in December, four-and-a-half years into a sentence of five years and six months.
