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Park sculpture honours murdered Aust girl

A playground in North Carolina named after Zahra Baker has welcomed a sculpture dedicated to the murdered Australian.

Murdered disabled Australian girl Zahra Baker

A sculpture honouring murdered Australian girl Zahra Baker has been unveiled in a US playground. (AAP)

A sculpture honouring murdered disabled Australian schoolgirl Zahra Baker has been unveiled in a North Carolina playground.

The 10-year-old Wagga Wagga-born Zahra's life was short and tragic.

Ravaged by bone cancer at the age of five, she had a leg amputated, wore a prosthetic limb and lost most of h er hearing to the disease.

Her father, Adam Baker, met North Carolina woman Elisa Baker on the internet and decided to move from Australia to the US state to live, however in 2010 Zahra went missing.

Zahra's dismembered body was found in bushland outside their home town of Hickory and Elisa Baker eventually agreed to a plea deal and is serving a 15-year to 18-year sentence for the murder.

Residents of Hickory hope the Zahra Baker All Children's Playground, which features a garden and equipment for disabled children to play on, will honour the young Australian.

The kinetic sculpture, titled Zahra's Whirled and created by artist Mike Roig, was unveiled on Wednesday as part of Child Abuse Prevention month.

It was surrounded by hundreds of pinwheels, the national symbol in the US for child abuse prevention.

Zahra's father, Adam, was not charged in connection with his daughter's death and has returned to Australia.


2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP



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