Two coffins, twin hearses, to farewell hero couple who tried to stop Bondi shooter

Follow our live coverage of the Bondi shooting here.

“It’s been years since I’ve seen two coffins together,” an emotional Rabbi Yehoram Ulman said on Friday morning.

Yet two, draped in black cloths with gold Stars of David, sat side-by-side at Woollahra’s Chevra Kadisha memorial hall on a blue-sky Sydney summer day.

Twin hearses waited outside the funeral, held for hero couple Boris Gurman, 69, and Sofia Gurman, 61, five days after they were gunned down trying to stop Bondi gunman Sajid Akram as he began his murderous rampage on Sunday evening.

The couple had confronted the terrorist as he got out of his silver hatchback parked on Campbell Parade, armed with a rifle.

Dramatic footage shows Boris confronted Akram, 50, as the latter opened the car door, tackling him and grabbing the rifle.

Akram regained the upper hand, shooting the Ukrainian-Jewish couple weeks before their 35th wedding anniversary.

They died in each other’s arms.

On Friday, hundreds of mourners gathered to remember the couple, spilling out onto the pavement outside the memorial hall.

“Boris and Sofia were taken from us, not just because they were Jewish, but fighting for being Jewish,” said the rabbi, also the father-in-law of Bondi victim Rabbi Eli Schlanger.

“The world has seen the footage of, I think they were the first ones to go. They’ve seen a terrorist taking out his gun and courageously attacked him, tragically, to be killed with a second gun”.

In a statement written by the couple’s son, Alex, and read by Ulman, the pair were remembered as “partners in every sense” who built a life filled with “warmth, effort and love”.

Sofia had a “natural authority” about her and was quietly decisive within the family. Every year, the extended family knew and looked forward to her traditional Soviet wafer cake.

Boris was a mischievous youth but matured into a responsible, caring man who loved his garden, including his banana tree, lemons and chillies, which he shared with the neighbour.

“Sofia and Boris showed us what family truly means,” Ulman said.

Funerals for two other Bondi victims, Edith Brutman and Boris Tetleroyd, were held at Lidcombe’s Rookwood Cemetery on Friday afternoon, also led by Ulman.

Tetleroyd’s wife Svetlana broke down in tears as his coffin was lowered into the ground, the shovelled dirt landing with a thud.

Tetleroyd and his son, Yakov, were both at Bondi Beach when the shooters opened fire. His son was seriously injured and is recovering from multiple surgeries.

In a statement this week, his family said they were living through an “unimaginable loss”, with Tetleroyd remembered as a devoted husband, loving father and caring stepfather.

“He was a warm, generous, and deeply sociable man, someone who loved conversation, connection, and helping others whenever he could,” the statement said.

Brutman was the 10th person buried following the massacre. Her funeral took place as temperatures topped nearly 40 degrees.

Ulman said he had known Brutman for nearly two decades, and said it was “truly difficult for me to imagine she isn’t here”. She was remembered for her love, loyalty and devotion.

“Edith wasn’t just a part of our lives; she was a very, very vocal part of our lives. But her love, her loyalty, her devotion, was really unique in every way,” he said.

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