‘We understand pain’: Parents of drunk driver accused of killing four children left devastated
The parents of the drunk driver accused of killing four children in Sydney’s west are grieving the loss of their own family having mourned the death of their daughter to cancer ten years ago.
NSW
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The parents of the drunk driver accused of killing four children in Sydney’s west are grieving the loss of their own family having mourned the death of their daughter to cancer ten years ago.
Retired NSW police detective Allan Davidson said he cannot begin to conceive the enormous grief of the parents whose children were allegedly mowed down by their son Samuel, 28, and said the horror crash has brought back the misery of losing their daughter to cancer ten years ago.
“It’s all come as a huge shock and has been overwhelming for us, we have lost our entire family, it’s devastated us, we understand pain,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
Speaking of their eldest’s death to cancer, his wife Kay, added, “we lost her to cancer, we lost her ten years ago and now (we’ve lost) Samuel.”
Their truck driver son, 29, has been charged with 20 offences including four counts of manslaughter.
He was allegedly three times over the alcohol limit when his blue Mitsubishi Triton Ute mounted the pavement in Bettington Road, Oaklands, ploughing into siblings Antony Addallah, 13, Angelina, 12, and Sienna, 8, and their cousin Veronique Sakr, 11, an 11-year-old boy and two girls aged 10 and 13 were badly injured.
The horrific accident happened on Saturday at 8pm effectively destroying the lives of three families including the Davidsons.
Davidson’s friend Cursina Balzama said he helped counsel her through the death of her own sister to cancer at the same time 10 years ago.
“Sam is a really good guy, he would reach out when I was grieving over my sister to ask if I was okay and would tell me ‘come on we can get through this,’” she said.
“If anyone is down he’d be the first person to reach out and cheer you up. “He’d be devastated over this and so would his family.
“It killed him when his older sister died, he will hate himself for what he did to those children now, he would never have meant to hurt anyone.”
Davidson’s friend Nadia Rose said he was “beside himself”.
“Sam’s beside himself right now! I’m actually concerned for his mental health. I don’t think he would be able to handle something like this because of the kind of person he is. He’s suicidal right now.
“He’s special always happy, always has a smile and wants to make you laugh. He does like to have fun and have few drinks but not in the way people will be looking at it.”
Originally published as ‘We understand pain’: Parents of drunk driver accused of killing four children left devastated