Danny and Leila Abdallah have announced they have welcomed a new baby girl into the family and have accepted well wishes from the driver who killed three of their children.
The Abdallah family had their lives changed in an instant in 2020 when a driver under the influence of drugs and alcohol mounted the kerb in Oatlands to kill Sienna, 8, Angelina, 12, and Antony, 13. The children’s cousin – 11-year-old Veronique Sakr – was also killed in the crash.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Mr Abdallah said he had formed a relationship with driver Samuel William Davidson and received a call from him after the birth of their new baby girl, who the pair welcomed on April 20.
“There are no winners in this, in any tragedy like this, so 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,” Mr Abdallah said.
“Samuel’s parents gave me a call and said congratulations on the new baby and I said thank you.
“The driver rang me from jail the next day and said congratulations and that he was thinking of us and I told him he and his family are in my prayers.”
The baby girl is the pair’s eighth child together. The couple also welcomed another baby girl – Selina – last year.
“This pregnancy wasn’t planned. It came as a shock and I had two dreams of Antony and Angelina in the same week so I knew that I was pregnant,” Ms Abdallah said.
“My older children Liana, Michael and Alex are so nurturing and caring with Selina (their first child born after the tragedy) and now the baby and they have become some kind, empathetic children because of what they have been through.”
The couple said they are yet to name their new bundle of joy.
The pair have become a pillar of forgiveness after launching the “ i4Give” day foundation. is an
The non-profit organisation which aims to increase forgiveness among communities and is celebrated annually on February 1.
Shocking tragedy
The horror crash that claimed four lives shocked Australia back in 2020.
The driver of the ute responsible, Davidson, later pleaded guilty to four counts of manslaughter and charges related to injuries sustained by three other children involved in the crash.
Davidson was driving recklessly and at high speed when his vehicle mounted a curb and struck the group of children.
Initially, he was sentenced in April 2021 to 28 years in prison, with a non-parole period of 21 years.
However, in 2022, his sentence was reduced by the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal to 20 years, with a non-parole period of 15 years, as they deemed the original sentence excessively harsh.
Forgiveness
Despite the devastating situation, the Abdallahs forgave the driver just days after he wiped out half of their family.
Mr Davidson in turn, thanked the family for their forgiveness, and was motivated to change his ways.
In an interview on Christian Lives Matter podcast, Mr Abdallah said a former homeless man who knew the family’s spiritual adviser Father Robert Pio, reached out to the priest from jail and claimed Mr Davidson wanted to meet him.
After the homeless man contacted Father Pio, a second person is understood to have reached out, telling the priest: “Look Father Robert, I‘ve got the driver that ran over the Abdallah children, he’s in my cell’.”
“Of all the priests in Australia this guy‘s talking to Father Robert, my spiritual father,” Mr Abdallah said.
“Well, (Father Robert) goes ‘I know the Abdallah parents, I visit them regularly and I talk to them, they come to my church.
“(Now Davidson) prays the rosaries three times a day, he goes to mass, he‘s doing Bible study and he wants to become a Maronite Catholic.”
A Maronite Catholic himself, Mr Abdallah admitted he was initially surprised by Davidson’s conversion.
“I was shocked. I honestly didn‘t expect it at all to hear Father Robert went and visited him and spoke to him and he’d done his first confession,” Mr Abdallah said.
“They spoke and (Davidson) said ‘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’.”