“Cruel and heartless”: Board denies request for Oatlands memorial
The heartbroken family of the four young children killed in the horrific Oatlands car crash last year have once again been denied a permit to build a memorial at the place they passed.
The Abdallah children, Antony, 13, Angelina, 12, and Sienna, 8, and their cousin Veronique Sakr, 11, were tragically run down and killed by a drunk driver on the outskirts of Oatlands Golf Club, in Sydney's northwest, last year.
The driver, Samuel William Davidson, was sentenced to a minimum of 21 years in jail last month.
But the families' hope to build a spot to honour their four children has been struck down once again by the board of the Oatlands Golf Club.
A statement from the families today asked the board to reconsider its refusal of the commemorative garden.
“We love our children dearly and we will always grieve the loss of our beautiful kids,” the families said.
“Our proposed commemorative garden simply honours our children, Antony, Angelina, Sienna and Veronique and our survivors Liana, Charbel and Mabelle.
“We respectfully ask the board to reconsider its decision so that our children can be honoured and the community can have a place to remember the Oatlands tragedy, which had such an impact on our nation.”
The planned garden, designed in collaboration with Parramatta City Council, has now been rejected twice by the board.
Their latest decision was on the grounds the garden would "unduly remind neighbours of the tragedy".
Oatlands Golf Club general manager Sam Howe emailed members in March, claiming the council’s designs were “well outside the scale of what had been communicated as appropriate”.
“The board and management recognise the terrible tragedy caused by this accident, while at the same time recognising our responsibility to the club and its members,” Mr Howe said.
The memorial would take up a very small amount of bushy space on the golf course.
Local MPs are also throwing their support behind the memorial, with their constituents pushing for a decision.
“I think you need to use your influence, Geoff Lee, to advise the board at the Oatlands Golf Club that refusing a memorial seat for the four children that died in the car accident is offensive, cruel, heartless and not community minded in anyway,” one of Mr Lee’s constituents wrote.