Family of dual-crash survivor Sophie Delezio ‘rattled and shocked’ after yet another close call on the road

THE family of dual-crash survivor Sophie Delezio has been left “rattled and shocked” after her father and brother were involved in a potentially deadly car crash.

Ron Delezio and his son Mitchell near the crash site at Balgowlah. Picture: Adam Yip.

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THE family of dual-crash survivor Sophie Delezio has been left “rattled and shocked” after her father and brother were involved in a potentially deadly car crash.

Sophie’s father Ron and brother Mitchell, 17, were driving along Condamine St, Balgowlah, and crossing Sydney Rd when the driver’s side of their Subaru Outback was hit, sending their car spinning.

Shockingly, the driver of the station wagon that hit their car, and an accomplice, allegedly fled the scene.

A car slammed into the childcare centre at The Roundhouse in Balgowlah in 2003. Picture: Martin Lange

“It could have been so much worse, but luckily someone is looking after us,” Mr Delezio said.

The Balgowlah resident said the horrors his daughter went through when she suffered third-degree burns to 85 per cent of her body as a toddler came flooding back.

In 2003, Sophie, then 2, lost both feet, parts of her hand and an ear after a car crashed into the Roundhouse Childcare Centre at Fairlight.

Sophie, now 15, was again left fighting for her life after being hit by a car on a pedestrian crossing in 2006.

“Sophie wasn’t with us, thank goodness,” Mr Delezio said of the most recent crash, that occurred as he picked his son Mitchell up from work near Stockland Balgowlah about 10.20pm last Tuesday.

(Middle) Sophie Delezio during rehearsal in Stage Artz production of Disney's The Little Mermaid, at Glen St Theatre in September last year. Picture: Troy Snook

“We have already had two accidents with Sophie, we don’t want another one.”

The pair escaped without serious injury, but were treated by a doctor for symptoms of shock.

“Anything that happens like this, I am just grateful everyone is OK. With her first and second accident she obviously wasn’t OK, but we still have our family. We are so lucky,” Mr Delezio said.

He said he briefly spoke with the two men, believed to be aged in their 20s, who were in the station wagon which collided with them.

“I started looking around the side of my car for damage then they were gone,” he said.

Sophie Delezio pictured 11 years after a near fatal accident in 2003 that left her with burns to 85 per cent of her body, with her parents.

He last saw them running along Sydney Rd.

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He said he hoped the collision would warn people about the perils of driving dangerously.

He said he believed the men were under the influence of drugs and alcohol on the road.

A Northern Beaches Police investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information should
phone Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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