7NEWS Australia‘My name is Daniel Abdallah, I have a wife, Leila, and six beautiful children I’ve been blessed with. Yesterday, I lost three of my children.’
At around 8pm local time on Saturday, February 1, Antony, 13, Angelina, 12 and nine-year-old Sienna were walking to buy ice-cream in Oatlands, Sydney when a 4×4 mounted the footpath and hit them.
All three of Abdallah’s children were tragically killed in the collision, along with the siblings’ cousin Veronique Sakr, 11. Speaking of the horrific loss, the dad said he was ‘numb’.
You can watch a video of Abdallah’s statement following the incident below:
Other injuries were reported from the crash: Abdallah’s 11-year-old son was taken to hospital where he’s now in a serious but stable condition, while two other girls, aged 10 and 13, suffered minor injuries (the injured children were also cousins).
In an emotional plea, the dad said, as per 7NEWS Australia:
I don’t know what to say. I’m numb, probably that’s what I feel at the moment. All I 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 and I have lost three kids.
Antony is 13, very handsome boy. He loved basketball. He woke up that morning and said, ‘We’re going to play this game for Kobe [Bryant].’ Angelina, she was my MLH, my little helper. Anything I needed, she had my back. Sienna, she was my little diva, my little actress. They’ve gone to a better place.
He added that all children killed and injured in the incident were related. ‘They were all coming over to get babysat. I told them to go for a little walk, to stay together, you guys should be OK. Give them a little bit of independence. This is one in a million. They were just walking on the footpath,’ he said.
7NEWS AustraliaThe driver, Samuel William Davidson, 29, failed a breathalyser test at the scene and was three times over Australia’s legal limit. He’s since been arrested and charged with four counts of manslaughter, along with dangerous driving occasioning death, dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm, negligent driving, drink-driving and other offences.
The case was heard at Parramatta bail court today, February 2, where Davidson didn’t appear, nor did he apply for bail – which was formally refused by magistrate John McIntosh. He’s due to appear in court on April 2.
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence contact Cruse Bereavement Care via their national helpline on 0808 808 1677.
After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.