It’s an unimaginable tragedy – a Melbourne nurse killed on her honeymoon. James Weedon speaks about the moment that changed his life forever.
Australians James Weedon and Katie Hirth were on their honeymoon in Vietnam last month when a truck hit the scooter she was riding on, killing her instantly.
Speaking to the Geelong Advertiser, a grief-stricken James tells how Katie, a 26-year-old nurse, had only hours earlier sent a text to her family and friends at home to share her excitement about the scooter tour.
“Gotta go, going on the scooter tour. See ya” she wrote.
Their one month South-East Asian backpacking honeymoon was to include Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Singapore.
They only made it to central Vietnam.
James met Katie, the down-to-earth farm girl from Cressy, 140km west of Melbourne, through mutual friends in 2004.
It wasn’t until two years later that the pair reconnected and love blossomed.
The couple did everything together — be it a dinner date in a nice restaurant or camping in the middle of the bush with no toilet.
James insists he is not angry explaining that it came down to timing.
“I don’t blame anyone; it was purely timing,” he says.
“It could have happened on the highway here. I take some comfort in knowing it happened when she was on an absolute high, rather than if it was six months ago driving to Melbourne on any normal day.”
To honour Katie, James has organised to donate money raised from family and friends to Geelong Animal Rescue, a cause close to Katie’s heart.
So gratified by the kindness he experienced from the staff at the hotel in Vietnam, James plans to return on the first anniversary of Katie’s death and stay there with his family and close friends.
Katie has passed, but James wants to keep her memory alive by talking about her openly.
“That’s all we’ve done since she passed; we talk about her every day,” he says.