"Today we honour a girl who was beautifully imperfect, who has touched each of our lives."
Those words echoed through a small Gold Coast church on Saturday where heartbroken family, friends and school mates of Tiahleigh Palmer said their final farewells to the 12-year-old.
"She was a girl with lots of good qualities and a couple of short-comings but no different from the rest of us ... slightly imperfect," a pastor at the Brisbane Anglican Maori Mission in Cornubia told mourners.
"If you were to ask all of these family members to give one word to describe Tiahleigh they'd come up with the word beautiful."
There were heart-wrenching scenes outside the church as a white coffin carrying the little girl's body was carried to the hearse as hundreds of mourners watched on.
Hundreds of white roses were placed on her coffin before dozens of bright purple balloons were released into the sky.
Among those present were many school-age girls who sobbed and clung to each other or their mothers as they watched their friend being taken away.
Tiahleigh's own mother, Cindi, sobbed as she walked slowly behind the hearse as it left the church grounds while family members performed a powerful Maori haka.
The little girl should have been playing with her Marsden State High School friends on Saturday but instead she will be laid to rest as homicide detectives work to find her killer.
Police are continuing to treat Tiahleigh's death as suspicious but officers have yet to provide any concrete leads.
The Year 7 student's body was discovered on the banks of a Gold Coast river over a week ago, six days after she went missing.
Tiahleigh's brother thanked police for their efforts as well as the wider community for their support during a short but emotional speech at his sisters funeral.
"We as a family are so overwhelmed and humbled by the outpouring of love," he said.
"This week has been extremely hard for us but with the help of the whole community we are managing to get through each day."
The boy held back tears as he voiced a final farewell to his beloved Tiahleigh.
"I also want to put out a thank you to my sister ... for everything."
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