Scott Morrison pleads with Oatlands Golf Club to build memorial for Abdallah and Sakr crash victims

The Prime Minister has sent a strongly worded letter telling Oatlands Golf Club it has a moral imperative to allow a memorial to four children killed in a horrific car crash.

Refusing to build a memorial for the four young children killed on one of Sydney’s richest golf clubs is ­“unAustralian”, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said.

In a lengthy and impassioned letter to Oatlands Golf Club president ­George Isaac, Mr Morrison said the club had a moral imperative to erect a tasteful memorial at the site of one of the city’s most horrific car crashes.

Leila and Danny Abdallah with their children Liana, Alex and Michael, in front of a portrait of the children they lost — Antony, Angelina and Sienna. Picture: Supplied

The Oatlands Golf Club board of directors made the stunning decision in May to unequivocally “close negotiations” for a memorial dedicated to Abdallah children Sienna, 8, Angelina, 12, and Antony, 13, and their cousin Veronique Sakr, 11.

The children were killed last year by drunk and drugged ­driver Samuel Davidson, whose out-of-control ute hit them at 133km/h.

Veronique Sakr, 11, died in the crash with her cousings. Picture: AAP/Bianca De Marchi

Veronique's mother Bridget and brother Michael, 15, support the memorial. Picture: Supplied

Mr Morrison asked the club to show compassion towards the Abdallah and Sakr families “living every parent’s nightmare”.

“They are good people who are ­facing the worst that life can throw at them,” Mr Morrison said in the letter penned earlier this month.

“Our prayer is that life will get ­easier for them and that joy will eventually return.

“All they have asked is their children not be forgotten.”

The current memorial site on Bettington Rd.

An artist’s impression of the proposed memorial.

Designs drawn up by Parramatta Council proposed a tasteful memorial that would only have encroached a few metres into heavily wooded rough along the perimeter of the course but the club’s directors refused — in part because they believed neighbours did not want a daily reminder of the ­tragedy.

The board of directors did not consult its members before making the decision.

Mr Morrison acknowledged the Oatlands Golf Club was not under any legal obligation to erect the memorial but said the directors were shirking their responsibility to the community.

“With the many privileges that come from various federal, state and local laws that govern clubs, there are also community responsibilities as well,” he said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has pleaded with the club to reconsider its rejection. Picture: Christian Gilles

“These aren’t responsibilities written in tablets of stone. Rather they ­reflect something of our humanity and what it means to be Australian – to look out for each other, even if sometimes, it feels like it has cost us.

“I know you have no legal obligation to help the Abdallahs and Sakrs, but frankly, if we reduce our citizenship to ‘what we have to do’ rather than ‘what we should do’, we will as Australians all be the poorer.” 

When asked about the letter, Danny Abdallah said he appreciated Mr Morrison’s words and maintained he was still hopeful for a mutually agreeable outcome for a memorial.

“The Prime Minister’s support means the world to my wife Leila and I, as well as (Veronique’s parents) Bridget, Bob and (Ms Sakr’s partner) Craig,” Mr Abdallah said.

“The letter shows he truly feels our pain.”

Oatlands Golf Club said it had not yet received the letter, which was sent on July 1.

Originally published as Scott Morrison pleads with Oatlands Golf Club to build memorial for Abdallah and Sakr crash victims