The niece of notorious Melbourne drug lord Tony Mokbel has been farewelled on Anzac Day before hundreds of mourners.
Kalliopi ‘Beba’ Keana Mokbel, 25, was died when her vehicle ploughed into a tree on Southern Road in Heidelberg West at about 8.50pm last Sunday week.
Ms Mokbel’s uncle Tony is currently serving a 30-year jail term for drug trafficking.
The notorious drug lord, who is fighting his convictions, made no application to attend his niece’s funeral, which was held at the Our Lady Of Lebanon Church in Thornbury – north east of Melbourne’s CBD.
Mourners spilled out of the church in their hundreds to pay their last respects to Ms Mokbel, who entered the church to the sound of beating drums and church bells.
Her father Horty was among the pallbearers, carrying her casket up a large ramp to her service.
Ms Mokbel was sent-off in a traditional ceremony, which saw her casket remain open throughout the duration of the service.
The priest who conducted the mass told mourners the church had been decorated as if they were celebrating Ms Mokbel’s wedding rather than her funeral.
Ms Mokbel’s white casket was adorned with flowers, with metallic roses completing the design.
Kalliopi ‘Beba’ Keana Mokbel was farewelled on Anzac Day before hundreds of mourners
The Mokbel clan carry the casket of their loved one up to the church. They were accompanied by the sound of drums and bells
Ballons soared into the sky as Ms Mokbel made her final journey
The service, which was spoken in a mixture of English and Aramaic, saw hundreds of mourners line-up to pay their condolences to the Mokbel family as they stood beside the casket.
At one stage, Ms Mokbel’s father was heard to quietly ask his grieving family to ‘keep calm’ as the emotions of the ceremony threatened to boil over.
One by one mourners paid their respects before filtering out into the sunshine where Ms Mokbel made her final journey among a sea of white balloons.
Her hearse was accompanied out of the car park by multiple gull-winged limousines.
‘Beba mou, you have become our angel way too soon,’ Ms Mokbel’s family wrote in a tribute card handed out to mourners.
‘With heavy hearts we have to accept and with heavy hearts we will always have to adapt to your loss. With broken hearts we will love and cherish all of our memories of you. Rest in peace. Our Beba forever.’
Limousines wait to take the Mokbel clan to their loved one’s final resting place
Tributes flowed for Ms Mokbel upon news of her death last week.
‘I’m gonna miss your silly laugh, your 1 hour story times, your 100 snapchats that you’d send me every day, your presence, your love and most of all you,’ Odeta Lamé wrote alongside a series of photos of the pair.
‘You called me your angel the other day and now you’ve become mine. I love you my twin flame and you’ll always hold a special place in my heart.’
‘You were such a light and made an imprint in everyone’s life,’ Rini Menidis wrote.
‘You always stood up for me and had my back. I always looked up to you like you were my big sister. You will forever be in my heart my girl.’
‘You’ve left too many people behind that I don’t know how to do life without you,’ Helena Katsouranis said.
‘I thank god for the time I got to spend with you, not many people meet such a natural ray of sunshine like you were.’
‘The way your smile lit up the entire universe was infectious, you would bring my mood to your level of joy in moments of being around you,’ Josephine Fotiadis said.
Drummers (left dressed in white) guide Ms Mokbel’s casket to her funeral service
Keana Mokbel (pictured) sadly died when her vehicle ploughed into a tree on Southern Road in Heidelberg West, in northeast Melbourne, at about 8.50pm on Sunday week
Savva Pappas said Ms Mokbel was ‘one of the most beautiful people God put on this planet’ and that his heart had been broken into pieces.
Our Lady of Lebanon, a church in Thornbury, inner-city Melbourne, posted a tribute to Ms Mokbel to its Facebook page on Tuesday.
‘Dear Parishioners. Sadly, a member of our Community here in Melbourne has passed away; Kalliopi Keana Mokbel,’ it read.
‘Her Funeral is still being finalised. We will confirm once we get the details.
‘Our thoughts and prayers are with Kalliopi’s family at this difficult time. May she Rest in Eternal Peace.’
Tony Mokbel, known for his involvement in Melbourne’s ‘Underbelly’ drug wars, has been made aware of the incident and has spoken with family (he is pictured in February, 2006)
In one of Ms Mokbel’s final posts, she shared a short video of herself driving with one hand as she pretends to swerve the car before correcting it’s course and smiling at the camera to indicate she was joking.
‘Whole life flashed before my very eyes,’ the glamorous Ms Mokbel wrote along with the video posted in late February.
In another post days earlier, Ms Mokbel shared a photo of herself taken in the rearview mirror of a car as she sits in the passenger seat.
Alongside the photo she has captioned the lyrics to the song The Color Violet by R&B artist Tory Lanez.
‘I gave my heart… speeding car going 90 in the rain,’ she wrote.
‘She took my heart, filled it with nothin’ but pain… The beat in my dance is not for romance.’
Victoria Police said a report would be prepared for the Coroner.
