Samuel Davidson sentenced to 28 years jail over Oatlands crash deaths

Danny Abdallah had already lost three of his children in the Oatlands crash, but on the day the driver was jailed for 28 years, he revealed the heartbreaking conversation he had with his surviving children ahead of the sentencing.

After three of his children were killed by a drunken and drug affected driver, Danny Abdallah was forced to have a heartbreaking conversation with his surviving eldest daughter.

Did she want to join the family in Parramatta District Court on Friday and be in the same room as the man who killed her siblings and one of her cousins?

It was the days before the sentencing of Samuel William Davidson and there was no way to sugar-coat it — but Mr Abdallah put the question to his children as sensitively as possible.

His eldest remaining daughter said she wanted to be there with her father, mother, Leila, and their extended family.

“I told my surviving children that the driver that ran over their siblings and Veronique will be sentenced in court and Liana decided to join us,” Mr Abdallah said.

“We prepared for (the sentencing day) with prayer.”

An emotional Danny and Leila Abdallah outside court after the sentencing of Samuel Davidson. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Jeremy Piper

They were part of a large group of Mr Abdallah’s extended family who were in courtroom six where Judge James Bennett sentenced 30-year-old Davidson to a maximum 28 years jail.

He was sentenced to a non-parole period of 21 years and won’t be considered for release until 2041.

It was a bookend to a tragedy, but the family said outside of court that they realise their suffering will never end.

“We will have our hearts broken until the day we take our last breath, and no sentence can help ease that pain,” Mr Abdallah said.

Davidson was hit with the crippling sentence after pleading guilty to four counts of manslaughter, aggravated dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm and two counts of causing bodily harm by misconduct.

Sienna, Angelina and Antony Abdallah died on February 1, 2020. Picture: 7 NEWS

The fourth victim of the Oatlands crash, Veronique Sakr.

It came after the horrific incident on the night of February 1, 2020, when Davidson fatally struck siblings Antony, 13, Angelina, 12, and Sienna Abdallah, 9, and their cousin Veronique Sakr, 11, while at the wheel of his out of control Mitsubishi Triton.

They were part of a group of seven children who were walking along the Bettington Rd footpath outside Oatlands Golf Club and were making their way to the IGA supermarket for ice cream just before 8pm after a family function.

Davidson, who had been drinking since 7am and had taken cocaine and MDMA ploughed into them from behind. The court heard he was travelling 111km/h and had the accelerator pushed fully to the floor at the point of impact.

Samuel William Davidson wrote an apology to the grief-stricken families.

Samuel Davidson during his arrest after the crash. Picture: Channel 9

Two other children survived the crash. But the court heard one of them will experience life long cognitive problems which has severely impacted his ability to learn at school. He suffered a significant brain injury and now needs assistance for simple tasks like turning on the television.

In court, Judge Bennett had to pause when reading out the horrific injuries suffered by the children.

He apologised to the court for reading the detail of the “distressing” fatal injuries suffered by the children but explained that was required to illustrate the “egregious behaviour” exhibited by Davidson.

“The manner of driving was such that tragedy was inevitable … (but the) magnitude of the tragedy extends into the unimaginable (for the families),” Judge Bennett told the court.

Outside court, Mr Abdallah said his family’s sentence was for life but also praised the justice system that he said “isn’t a place to serve as revenge for the victims”.

“Whether he gets one year or a 100 years, we won’t get Antony and Angelina, Sienna and Veronique back,” Mr Abdallah said.

Families of the victims comfort each other outside court after the sentencing. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Jeremy Piper

Bridget Sakr and partner Craig Mackenzie spoke outside of court after the verdict. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Jeremy Piper

Veronique’s mother Brigid said: “We all hope Mr Davidson can use his time in jail to really reflect on what he has done and truly understand the consequence of his actions, in particular how the misuse of drugs and alcohol has devastated so many families, communities and … all of us here.”

Mr Abdallah and his extended family know their lives will never be the same.

But on Friday night, he attempted to return a bit of normality after such a harrowing experience.

“I’m going to church first to pray (and then) going to watch a close family friend Youssef ‘Uwee’ Dib who is boxing (on Friday night) for an Australian title,” Mr Abdallah said.

Leila and Daniel Abdallah with children Antony (left), Angelina (right) and sister Sienna (8, left, front). Supplied by Daniel Abdallah

Davidson looked at the floor for most of the proceedings and did not make eye contact with his own family — who were sitting opposite him — or the families of the children.

He wiped away tears when Mr Abdallah’s victim impact statement was read to the court.

It said the incident had “broken” his family and that he and his wife had been “proud of their six children and bragged about them to others”.

The death of his three children had “removed joy from (their) household and turned a loving family into a suffering family”.