EXCLUSIVE
The Abdallah family, who lost three of their children and a cousin in a devastating car crash four years ago, have won compensation from the killer driver, Samuel William Davidson.
Father Danny Abdallah has been awarded almost $90,000 and the New South Wales District Court has ordered Davidson to pay $60,000, plus costs, to Abdallah’s three surviving children, Liana, Alex and Michael.
Abdallah filed a lawsuit last year seeking payment for the ongoing trauma suffered by Liana, who was injured but survived the catastrophic accident, and for her children, who suffered the psychological trauma of losing their siblings.
The court order, obtained by Daily Mail Australia, said the net sum of three children would be paid to the NSW Trustee and Guardian for investment until each of them turned 18.
Danny Abdallah (above with his family in 2022) successfully sued the driver who killed three of his children
Liana was walking with her brothers and cousin. on a path to buy ice cream in Oatlands, in Sydney‘s west on February 1, 2020.
Davidson’s car plowed into the group, killing Antony, 13, Angelina, 12, and Sienna Abdallah, 9, and their cousin Veronique Sakr, 11. Davidson was under the influence of drugs and alcohol, driving erratically and speeding at the time.
It was a tragedy that shook the community, but Mr and Mrs Abdallah, who are devout Maronite Catholics, have since forgiven Davidson.
Davidson was sentenced in 2021 to 28 years in prison with a non-parole period of 21 years, which was reduced on appeal last year to a maximum of 20 years with a minimum of 15 years.
The Abdallah family, pictured before the accident that killed three of their children, have been hit with a claim for damages against the driver in a civil lawsuit.
Samuel Davison is serving a 20-year sentence after he drove his car into a group of seven children, killing four instantly.
Mr Abdallah’s legal action against Davidson, who will be jailed until at least 2035, is believed to have been brought against the driver’s insurance company, which will make the payment.
Abdallah told Daily Mail Australia the court matter was “confidential” and related to ongoing therapy and trauma, but declined to comment further.
Last year, Abdallah revealed that Davidson was becoming a Maronite Catholic in prison because of the forgiveness shown by the family.
Abdallah described Davidson’s conversion to prison on a Christian Lives Matter podcast with Stand for Truth host Charlie Bakhos.
It happened after two inmates in jail with Davidson contacted Abdallah’s spiritual advisor, Father Robert-Pio, claiming the offender wanted to meet him.
“Leila and I talked a lot with him (Father Robert),” Abdallah said.
‘(He) is a good guy and he feeds the homeless… and there was a homeless guy he feeds who ended up in jail and he said, “I’ve got a guy who wants to meet you.”
“There was another guy who called him and said, ‘Look, Father Robert, I have in my cell the driver who ran over Abdullah’s children.’
‘Of all the priests in Australia, this guy is talking to Father Robert, my spiritual father, yes, and he doesn’t know it.
‘I was shocked. Honestly, I didn’t expect to hear that Father Robert came to visit him, talked to him, and had made his first confession.
Davidson, photographed at the scene, is becoming a Maronite Catholic from his cell.
Abdallah’s children Antony, 13, Angelina, 12, Sienna, eight, and niece Veronique Sakr, 11, died instantly in the crash.
Witnesses saw Davison speed through a red light, swerve anti-clockwise at a roundabout and drive at a top speed of 133km/h in a 50km/h zone before the crash.
“They talked and he (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.’
Mrs Abdallah had initially expressed her intention to forgive Davidson two days after the horror accident when she returned to the scene, held hands and prayed a rosary with her loved ones.
‘The guy (driver)… I can’t hate him right now. “I don’t want to see it, but I don’t hate it,” he told reporters.
“I think in my heart forgiving him, but I want the court to be fair… I’m not going to hate him, because that’s not who we are.”
In 2022, Abdallah said: “Don’t get me wrong, I cry all the time, we are still grieving.” But it would be much worse if my shoulders were burdened with revenge and bitterness.
Danny and Leila Abdallah welcomed a new baby girl, Selina, in March 2022 and are expecting another soon, whose arrival will make them a family of seven.
In February, a heavily pregnant Leila and her family opened the Garden Memorial outside Oatlands Golf Course.
The family had long fought for the permanent monument, which features sandstone pedestals with the faces of the four deceased children of the Abdallah and Sakr families.