Fiance of slain musician a former Noosa barista

A former colleague of Bianca Buckley has expressed his sincere condolences after hearing her fiance was murdered in New Zealand last week.

Pictured Canadian fiancee Bianca Buckley and Sean McKinnon (right), from Warnambool in Victoria who was travelling in a campervan in NZ when the pair were attacked in the early hours of Friday morning at the Te Toto Gorge carpark in Raglan.Pictured taken from Bianca Buckley's FB page. https://www.facebook.com/bee.c.b.1

A FORMER colleague of Bianca Buckley has expressed his sincere condolences after hearing her fiance was murdered in New Zealand last week.

Her partner Sean McKinnon, 33, was blasted with bullets as Ms Buckley screamed in terror inside their van parked at the rugged Te Toto Gorge lookout, near Raglan, two hours south of Auckland.

 

Bianca Buckley and Sean McKinnon.

 

Canadian-born Ms Buckley, 32, managed to scramble free as the gunman ordered her to hand over the keys to the hired van and hid, trembling, in bushland for almost half an hour, until the attacker drove off with her fiance inside.

When the coast was clear she was able to flee barefoot for 2km using the full moonlight to guide her in the dark until she could raise the alarm at around 3.20am on Friday.

A few years prior, Ms Buckley had spent time working at Noosa's Bistro C while backpacking.

 

**NEWS360 PREMIUM LOCKED CONTENT: NO NEWS.COM, NO SKY NEWS, NO WEST AUSTRALIAN, NO AUSTRALIAN** ***EMBARGOED FOR ONLINE UNTIL 6am 19th AUGUST** Canadian Bianca Buckley (L), fiance of Sean McKinnon, who was travelling in a campervan in NZ when the pair were attacked in the early hours of Friday 16th August 2019, at the Te Toto Gorge carpark in Raglan. Sean McKinnon was shot dead, Bianca managed to escape. ***EMBARGOED FOR ONLINE UNTIL 6am 19th AUGUST**

 

Team manager Pete Spring said Ms Buckley didn't spend long at the Hastings St business but was well-liked.

"She was a lovely girl, an admirable girl and we really enjoyed having her in our team here," Mr Spring said.

"She was a barista here working while backpacking and when she went onto different things she left on good terms.

"She doesn't deserve anything like that.

"It was a while ago when she worked here but when she was on television we recognised her straight away."

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