‘I lost someone who was my everything’: Bondi Junction victim Pikria Darchia remembered
By Christopher Harris and Julie Power
Artist Pikria Darchia uprooted her life in the medieval city of Tbilisi, Georgia, with its ancient fortresses and cold winters, and moved to Sydney a decade ago.
Living in the beachside suburb of Maroubra, and loving everything about her new life, she painted, practised yoga and meditation. Her plans included mastering the English language.
Death was not on the agenda.
Mourners gather to remember Pikria Darchia, who died in the Bondi Junction attack.Credit: Nick Moir
On Tuesday, her family and friends withstood rain and cold to attend a private memorial service to farewell the artist, mother of two and grandmother who died in the stabbing massacre on April 13 at Westfield Bondi Junction. Her remains will be flown to Georgia for burial.
The memorial service at the Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park in Matraville was also attended by NSW’s deputy premier Prue Car, and Westfield Bondi Junction’s chief executive Elliott Rusanow.
Rusanow said on Tuesday that the tributes to the victims killed in the stabbing rampage left at the eastern suburbs shopping centre would be removed from Wednesday.
They were “a symbol of an outpouring of grief”, and they will be collected to form part of the official condolence record.
Darchia’s son, Irakli Dvali told Seven News that his mother loved Australia and moved here believing it was safe: “I lost someone who was my everything: My backbone, my president, my CEO, my mother”. He last spoke with his mother 10 minutes before she died.
Darchia’s son and friends have called on federal and state governments to do more for people who suffer from mental health issues. The killer, Joel Cauchi, was shot dead by Inspector Amy Scott in an act of heroism that witnesses said prevented further deaths that deadly Saturday.
The six people killed in the Westfield Bondi Junction stabbing attack: (clockwise from top left) Ashlee Good, Jade Young, Dawn Singleton, Yixuan Cheng, Faraz Tahir and Pikria Darchia.
Darchia’s best friend Tamara Shelia said, “In Australia, there are a lot of people with mental health issues. We think we live in a safe country, but apparently we do not.”
“The government has to radically change their approach to such people. It is not one man’s fault. It is the health system and government’s failure.”
Pikria Darchia went to Bondi Junction to buy a water bottle after having lunch with her best friend.Credit: NSW Police
Shelia said Darchia had “loved nature, she loved everything about Australia.”
Shelia and her daughter had lunch with Darchia before the 55-year-old went to Westfield Bondi Junction to look for a new water bottle. “We had lunch together, and then she left, and that’s when we last saw her,” she said.
A short time later, Darchia was killed. “That day… She just wanted to buy a drink bottle in a smaller size for yoga class. She was thinking, whatever she had, it was a big size. And she said ‘I’m gonna have a look to see if there were any smaller ones’. That was the main reason why she went there.”
Shelia described Darchia as a best friend, and she is still struggling to make sense of what happened. “I don’t want to think about it. It is very painful,” she told the Herald a week ago.
“She was amazing. She was full of life, very friendly. You could say anything to her.”
Tamara Shelia
“She wasn’t planning to die, she loved her healthy lifestyle. She wasn’t smoking, she wasn’t drinking – she was doing yoga, she was doing meditation.”
Darchia arrived in Australia in 2013. She painted and was interested in costume design. She tried to get a job when she first arrived in Sydney but, due to her age, found it difficult to secure one. Her English was not great when she arrived.
“Like a sister”: Pikria Darchia’s best friend Tamara Shelia spoke fondly of her at a service on Tuesday.
“She was a perfectionist. She wanted to have perfect English,” Shelia said.
Darchia continued to paint and sketch and developed a strong relationship with Shelia’s daughter, who also painted.
“She was my daughter’s best friend. She was telling me, your daughter is more my daughter. They had so many things in common. We spoke on a daily basis.”
A GoFundMe page has been established for Pikria’s sons.