Oatlands crash mum Bridget Sakr meets grieving fiance of stabbing victim Dawn Singleton

The mother of one of the children killed four years ago in the horrific Oatlands crash has met with the fiance of Bondi stabbing victim Dawn Singleton to let him know he is not alone.

It has been 36 days since Sydney police officer Ashley Wildey last heard the voice of his fiancee Dawn Singleton.

The month since Singleton was tragically killed in the Westfield Bondi Junction stabbing attacks has been filled with shock and despair.

If there is one person who understands how it feels, it is Bridget Sakr.

Four years ago, the finance executive lost her 11-year-old daughter Veronique after a drunk and drugged driver ploughed into a group of seven children walking along a footpath. Veronique’s three cousins also died, changing the lives of their families forever.

Dawn Singleton and her fiance Ashley Wildey. Picture: Facebook

Bridget Sakr with pictures of 11-year-old Veronique. Picture: Justin Lloyd

On Friday morning, in the Gladesville electorate office of Liberal MP Anthony Roberts at a meeting he set up, Ms Sakr met Mr Wildey and his mum Esther to offer her support.

Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph afterwards, Ms Sakr said the first thing she did was give them a hug.

Veronique was one of four children killed in a horrific crash in 2020.

“We talked about what a beautiful person Dawn was,” she said. “We talked about Veronique.

“We talked about their last day.”

Mr Wildey has not spoken publicly about what occurred, although he did rush over to the shopping centre to try to find Singleton.

Those close to him say he is a “hero”. “He is a server and giver,” Ms Sakr said. “All he wanted to do was protect her.”

She said it was clear Mr Wildey was still in shock — a feeling she knows only too well.

“He says he hasn’t heard Dawn’s voice for 36 days,” she said.

“You don’t hear your loved one’s voice. I get it. He is still in shock. It will take a while.

“It was hard and reminds how raw it is still for me.

“But sharing my story and my journey hopefully gives him the strength to know that what he is going through, he is not on his own.

“I told him we grieve alone and we heal together. I said he can text me and I can listen and say nothing.

“There is no right answer with grief. We swapped numbers. I told him that I’m there for him. I will be there for him.”

Dawn Singleton was shopping for her wedding to Ashley Wildey when she was stabbed.

After her own loss, Ms Sakr turned to her faith, while also launching a charity called Heartfelt to connect and support people going through grief.

She regularly visits her daughter’s school — “it continues the bond with her” — and has opened a cafe in Strathfield called Quatre with her husband Craig Mackenzie to honour Veronique’s love of “cooking and feeding people”.

“I am still healing,” she said.

“You grow around the pain. The pain is at the centre, with your loved one.

“I had to rebirth her from a physical form to a spiritual form. I’m a Christian and my faith tells me my daughter is with the Lord.”

The fact her daughter was sometimes overlooked by people talking about “the Oatlands tragedy”, with the focus being on Veronique’s three cousins, pains her daily, although she holds no resentment: “It’s just the way the world sees it”.

Instead, she used it to work “fearlessly” to have her daughter’s memory honoured.

“My grief is disenfranchised,” she said. “Only a couple of weeks ago I was at an event and I wasn’t mentioned.

“But I want to use this tragedy and turn it into a greater good and that for me is helping the silent grievers.”

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