Zara Aleena’s family have said she “believed that a woman should be able to walk home” in a moving tribute to “a beloved human, child, niece, cousin, granddaughter, friend to all”.
Aleena was attacked on a street in Ilford, east London, on Sunday while returning home after a night out. Her family said she had “put her party shoes in a bag and donned her trainers” because “she walked everywhere”.
In the statement, the family said: “Zara believed that a woman should be able to walk home. Now, her dreams of a family are shattered, her future brutally taken.
“Sadly, Zara is not the only one who has had her life taken. We all know women should be safe on our streets. She was in the heart of her community, 10 minutes from home.
“We all need to be talking about what happened to our Zara, we all need to be talking about this tragedy.”
The statement added that the past few days had been “shocking and unimaginable”.
The tribute described Aleena, who was a carer to her mother and grandmother, as “a joy to all of us” and “our love in human form”, as well as friendly, with “a passionate spirit and indomitable energy”.
The family said: “She was authentic and refused to try and impress anyone but she impressed us. She was the rock of our family. Zara was stoic and held it all together and never complained. She glued our community together.”
Aleena had dreamed of becoming a lawyer since the age of five, reflecting her natural “sense of justice and fairness” that had led to her to work with refugees and a dedication to “giving voice to those who had less power”, the family said.
“She had that special habit of noticing others in need and always put their needs on her agenda,” they said.
The family added that “nobody worked harder” than Aleena, who had recently finished her legal practice course and started working for the Crown Prosecution Service to complete a two-year work placement to become a solicitor.
“Zara was happy and at a point in her life when her joy was radiating and blossoming,” the family said.
The family also extended their “deepest sympathy and love” to the families of women murdered in the past few years: Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman, killed in a park in north-west London in summer 2020; Sarah Everard, who was kidnapped by a police officer in Clapham, south-west London, in March 2021; Sabina Nessa, bludgeoned in a park in Kidbrooke, south-east London, in September 2021; and Ashling Murphy, killed while jogging on a canal in County Offaly in Ireland in January 2022.
The family added: “We must prevent and stop violence against women and girls.”
