Zara Aleena, a law graduate, has said they feel they will never be cut off after her death, but are determined to speak with political leaders to tackle violence against women and girls.
The 35-year-old Londoner died in the early hours of Sunday 26 June as she was walking home from a night out along Cranbrook Road in Ilford, east London, an area she knew well and where she felt ‘safe’.
A man has been accused of murdering her.
Ms. Aleena’s maternal aunt, Farah Naz, said her “independent” and “generous” niece was “the joy, the light of our home,” and spoke of the family’s determination to “change something” in honor of the ‘extrovert’.
Naz told reporters: “I don’t think there will be a shutdown, this is just the beginning of the conversation we need to have.
“I want to reach out and do something important and act because that’s what Zara was about – we need to change something.
“I want to speak to the leaders of this country, I want to talk now about setting up projects to prevent violence.”
Ms Naz said her niece – known to relatives as Zash or Zasherooni – was aware of the dangers faced by women, particularly after the recent London murders of Bibaa Henry, Nicole Smallman, Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa, but felt ” felt safe’ to walk in. her local community where she was ‘known to all’.
“Zara wasn’t a woman who didn’t know there were dangers in the world,” said Ms. Naz.
“She couldn’t imagine what would happen to those women with her.
“She didn’t know she was going to be on this list because she was taking those precautions in her head.”
She added: “This is about a young woman who lost everything, and about a society that lost someone who cared, someone who was good.
“It haunts us that she spent the last minutes of her life watching something so horrific.
“She wasn’t ignorant of the fact that women get hurt. It’s not about making the streets safe, it’s about changing the mindset.’
Ms. Naz said the family has been inundated with condolences and offers of support from community members, including various faith groups, friends and the families of other women, including Ms. Henry, Ms. Smallman and Ms. Nessa.
She said: “Our entire community has reached out to us and let us know how devastated they are, how crushed they feel and how unsafe they feel.
“People have contacted us and said their lives won’t be the same again.”
Ms Naz said her niece was ‘the happiest she’d ever been’, having started working for the Royal Courts of Justice five weeks before she was murdered.
Hundreds of people are expected to hold a silent vigil Saturday afternoon for Ms. Aleena to “walk her home.”
Crying, she added, “We’ll never get through this, but it (the walk) will help us.”