The sister of the only Briton killed in the Paris terror attacks has told 14 people on trial in Paris over the bloodshed that while she and other victims’ families “deplore what you did, we don’t hate you”, reports The Guardian.
Nick Alexander was killed when gunmen stormed the Bataclan theatre in Paris during a rock concert as part of a series of coordinated attacks across the French capital ordered by the Islamic State group.
A total of 130 people were killed in the shootings and suicide bombings, which ended in a massacre at the Bataclan, where the US band Eagles of Death Metal were performing in front of a capacity crowd.
Alexander, who was 35, was the band’s merchandise manager.
He died in the arms of his ex-girlfriend Helen Wilson after sustaining gunshot wounds
Testifying on the 33rd day of the biggest trial in modern French history, his sister Zoe Alexander said he eschewed hatred, saying: “You cannot neutralise poison with more poison.”
In remarks addressed to the sole surviving member of the 10-man Islamic State cell that carried out the attacks, Salah Abdeslam, and his co-accused, the 48-year-old Briton said: “I don’t expect to hear remorse, but hope something you hear here will resonate with your conscience.”
She described her brother as a music lover and maverick, who defied conventions in the military town of Colchester where they grew up, with his alternative look of “long hair, skinny jeans and boots”.