The father of three children killed in the Oatlands tragedy has made a remarkable admission, saying he would rather see the drunk and drugged driver who caused their deaths walk free from jail.
Danny Abdallah’s son Antony, 13, daughters Angelina, 12, and Sienna, 8, and their cousin Veronique Sakr, 11, were killed in 2020 when an out-of-control ute mounted a footpath in Sydney’s west.
The driver, Samuel William Davidson, later pleaded guilty to four counts of manslaughter and was jailed for 28 years, with a non-parole period of 21 years. That sentence was reduced on appeal to 15 years.
But in a new 7NEWS Spotlight documentary aired Sunday night, Mr Abdallah told Davidson directly that prison time had never brought him peace.
“If it was up to me, I’ll bring him out tomorrow. I know the guy,” he said from inside Cessnock Correctional Centre. “Justice is to have my kids back. That’s all. If you’ve got one day or you’ve got a hundred years, it’s not going to change how I feel. I’ve learned justice isn’t really for the victims. I think justice is served for the community.”
Mr Abdallah, a devout Maronite Catholic, has long spoken of his decision to forgive Davidson – a decision that stunned many in the aftermath of the crash. He and his wife Leila have since dedicated their lives to promoting forgiveness in honour of their children.
On the program, Abdallah and Davidson prayed together. Davidson, who has turned to Christianity in prison, has been studying the Bible and told spiritual advisors that the family’s forgiveness led him to embrace faith.
“You know, the whole world should have hated me, but because of Danny and Leila’s forgiveness I was able to see life in a different way,” Davidson said.
The 31-year-old driver admitted to Spotlight that he had been drinking heavily the night before the crash and remembered little before running a red light. “I had no control … I’d taken a corner so fast that not even a race car driver could have pulled that off,” he recalled.
Breaking down, he described the horror when he realised the devastation he had caused. “Obviously there were dead bodies … your destruction, carnage. It was horrible.”
Davidson also reflected on his life before prison, revealing that his sister’s death from cystic fibrosis when he was 19 had fuelled his dependence on alcohol.
Now locked in his cell for 17 hours a day, Davidson said he longs for the simplest freedoms when he is eventually released. “At home you just open a door … here you’ve got to wait. Freely opening it – I can’t wait,” he said.
Despite the enduring grief, Abdallah said facing the man responsible for his children’s deaths has helped him continue forward.
“No one outside of my parents, my wife and my kids has changed my life more than this man,” he said. “There are no winners in this. All we can do is show forgiveness, move forward in the best way we can and try to find joy in the midst of pain.”
Images: 7NEWS Spotlight
