Sydney family numb with grief as four kids lost in Oatlands crash
The distraught parents of three of the four children killed in a horror crash speak of their devastation.
It was stiflingly hot, and the babysitter was already on the way over, but Daniel Abdallah thought the children should have one last treat before he and his wife went out for the evening: he said they could walk to the shops by themselves to get some ice-cream.
The likelihood of danger was incalculably small; there were seven kids in total, all from the one extended family, and with it still being light outside there was no need for overbearing instruction.
Mr Abdallah’s only injunction was that they stick together while walking the streets of Oatlands, a small, sleepy patch of northwestern suburbia that’s best known for its higher-than-average incomes and low rates of crime.
Yet just streets away from the Abdallah house, a tragic chain of events was being set in motion.
In circumstances both unlikely and inexplicable, builder Samuel William Davidson allegedly got behind the wheel of his Mitsubishi Triton utility after an afternoon of drinking at home. He, too, felt like heading to the shops.
Police say that about 8pm his car allegedly veered onto the wrong side of Bettington Road where the children were walking and mounted the kerb into their path. Officers allege that he did so with a blood-alcohol reading of 0.15, or three times the legal limit. By the time his vehicle stopped, four children were dead and a fifth remained in a coma.
The victims included Mr Abdallah’s eldest son, Antony, 13, his daughters, Angelina and Sienna, 12 and 9, and their cousin, Veronique Sakr, 11.
Mr Davidson allegedly drove through a red light as he left a Caltex service station on Saturday night about 8pm, before he allegedly hit and killed the four children. The 29-year-old was seen driving on the wrong side of the road seconds before, reports The Daily Telegraph.
Still numbed by the events but visibly distraught, Mr Abdallah and his wife, Leila, both Maronite Catholics, returned to the scene of the collision on Sunday near the Oatlands Golf Club where mourners had created a flower-adorned memorial for the children. Leila was seen kneeling before rosaries adorning the crash site, making the sign of the cross and reciting the Lord’s Prayer. A steady stream of family and friends, along with those who barely knew the family — a car wash attendant, a childcare worker — turned up to express their condolences.
“Yesterday I lost three of my children,” Mr Abdallah said, as he searched for words to describe his despair.
“All I just want to say is please, drivers, be careful. These kids were just walking innocently, enjoying each other’s company and this morning I woke up, I’ve lost three kids.”
Mr Abdallah spoke of each of his children and the joys of being a parent. Antony had just started Year 8 at The King’s School in North Parramatta. A basketball devotee, he had dedicated his morning game on Saturday to Kobe Bryant, the NBA great who perished a week earlier in a helicopter accident.
“He loved basketball,” Mr Abdallah said. “He woke up that morning and said, ‘We’re going to play this game for Kobe’.”
Angelina was described as his “MLH, my little helper”, while Sienna, the youngest victim, was “my little diva, my little actress”.
“It was beautiful, we loved it,” he said, referring to the heavy workload of raising six children.
“That was my full-time job,” he added.
“I always say I was a full-time father, part-time worker. They were my priority, and now they’re gone.”
Another of Mr Abdallah’s daughters was taken to hospital with another child but both are expected to recover fully.
Another boy, aged 11, was listed in a serious but stable condition in hospital on Sunday. It is understood he has extensive brain damage.
Both Angelina and Sienna attended the Tara Anglican School for Girls in North Parramatta, which held a memorial service on Sunday. Their cousin, Veronique Sakr, attended Saint Sabina College in Strathfield.
“Veronique was a vibrant 11-year-old girl, full of life, love and had a maturity well beyond her young years,” her family said in a statement.
“Veronique brought us all such joy and will be forever remembered. Veronique will remain in our hearts always.”
In the aftermath of the tragedy, Mr Davidson stayed at the scene with his passenger, who tried to perform CPR on the victims until police arrived and escorted them both to Castle Hill Police Station.
Mr Davidson allegedly waived his right to an interview, police said, and by Sunday morning he had been charged with 20 offences, including four counts of manslaughter, high-range drink-driving, and other charges.
The matter was mentioned at Parramatta Court on Sunday where Mr Davidson did not apply for bail.
The matter will be heard again on April 2.
Aside from a few minor traffic matters, the driver was not known to police.
An online petition calling on Parramatta Council to install speed humps on main roads in Oatlands has been signed by almost 2000 people.
The change.org petition was created on Sunday and called for extra safety measures to be taken because the “50KM speed limit is completely disregarded”.
The petition is calling on Parramatta Council to install speed humps and convex safety mirrors along Bettington Road and Wyoming Ave to slow drivers down as they exit Pennant Hills Road.
“We need to get together as a community to make this happen,” the petition says.
Additional reporting: Angelica Snowden
Police say attacks not motivated by hate, but if this isn’t anti-Semitism, what is it?
Australia’s peak Jewish body has lashed police and political leaders for downplaying hatred as a motive for violent attacks, after revelations the alleged Mr Big has extreme anti-Semitic views.
‘Diversity of the few’ costing arts the crowds
Adelaide Festival director Brett Sheehy questions whether the arts have ‘shut out 50 per cent of humanity’ through a focus on minority identities.