The father of a four-year-old British boy, who was spared after telling a terrorist gunman in the Kenyan shopping centre siege he was "a very bad man", has spoken of his relief.
Dan Prior, whose wife and six-year-old daughter also were spared, says he was relieved his family survived the ordeal and spoke of the trauma caused by the "senseless atrocity."
But he says his thoughts are with those who were not so lucky.
Following the boy's comments, the gunman reportedly asked the family for forgiveness and gave the children chocolate bars.
The youngster, from Windsor, Berkshire, was in a supermarket with his mother Amber and his sister when terrorists stormed the Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi on Saturday, The Sun reported.
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The boy is believed to have been trying to protect his mother, who had been shot in the leg.
"I am very relieved that my family have survived and my thoughts go out to those families that are not as fortunate as my own," Mr Prior said in a statement released on Tuesday.
"My children are traumatised and my wife is very unwell as a result of this senseless atrocity.
"As a family we now need time and privacy to heal. We would strongly urge anyone interested in helping out the victims of this attack to make donations to the Kenya Red Cross."
The youngster's uncle Alex Coutts told The Sun that when terrorists asked if any children were alive in the supermarket, his nephew, nieces and their mother stood up and said `yes', before the four-year-old said: "You're a bad man, let us leave."
"He was very brave," Mr Coutts said.
"The terrorists even gave the kids Mars bars."
