The father of three children mowed down by a drink driver has revealed Scott Morrison phoned him after the killer was jailed to say: ‘Nothing will ever replace your kids but this is a good sentencing’.
Danny Abdallah also revealed Jenny Morrison offered to stay over at his house in Oatlands in Sydney‘s north west to make his wife Leila feel safe after they were burgled.
Speaking to Mark Bouris on his Straight Talk podcast on Wednesday, Mr Abdallah recalled the moment he got a call from the PM as he left court in April 2021 after Samuel Davidson received Australia’s longest ever sentence for manslaughter.
Leila Abdallah (left) and Danny Abdallah (right) outside Parramatta District Court in Sydney for the sentencing of the man who killed three of their children
The Abdallah family as they were before the tragedy which took the lives of Antony (left) and two of his sisters, Sienna and Angelina
‘The day of the sentencing, they sentenced the driver. I walked out of court and he was the first person to call me,’ Mr Abdallah said.
‘He said ”Danny nothing will ever replace your kids.” But it was the biggest manslaughter sentence, 28 years, that they’ve ever given out.
‘He goes ”but this sentencing was a good sentencing”.’
Mr Abdallah, who has become friendly the Prime Minister after several meetings since the tragedy in 2020, added: ‘Who does that, that’s our Prime Minister, this is the stuff he does off camera.
‘He’s like a normal person, he’s one of us.
Mr Abdallah also revealed he got a text from the PM on Father’s Day, saying: ‘I’m thinking of you’.
‘I remember Father’s Day. I was at Rockwood cemetery, it was my first year, I was crying, upset and thinking about the kids,’ he said.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison (right) and wife Jenny embrace members of the Abdallah family during a church service in February this year
‘He messages me ”Daniel I’m thinking of you today.” On Father’s Day.’
In the candid interview, Mr Abdallah said Jenny Morrison had offered support to his family after they were burgled.
‘We had our house broken into at the time about six, eight months after the tragedy,’ he said.
‘Leila was at home, someone had run upstairs and taken some jewellery and bolted out, it was all over the news.
‘His wife Jen rings Leila and says ”listen I’m going to come and stay over at your place tonight just so you can feel safe”.
‘How humbling is that see the Prime Minister’s wife reach out,’ he added.
‘We said ”That’s OK don’t trouble yourself. But she meant it from all her heart that she wanted to make sure Leila was OK.
‘This is something from the heart… they’re genuine people.’
The comments come just days before Saturday’s election, with polls showing Mr Morrison could be booted out of office by Anthony Albanese.
Samuel Davidson was jailed for 28 years for mowing down and killing four children aged under 14 when he was drunk and on drugs
Samuel William Davidson was driving erratically and speeding when he struck Veronique Sakr, 11, and her cousins, Sienna Abdallah, eight, and her siblings Angelina, 12, and Antony, 13.
The children had been walking to buy ice-creams when the 32-year-old ploughed into them after his ute mounted a kerb on Bettington Rd, at Oatlands, in Sydney‘s northwest on February 1 in 2020.
Davidson was sentenced last year to a maximum 28-year prison sentence with a minimum 21 year sentence which does not expire until 2041.
Immediately after Samuel William Davidson mowed down a group of children on a Sydney footpath, killing four of them, he tested positive for alcohol and drugs
Davidson, a professional truck driver, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Veronique Sakr, 11, and her cousins, Sienna Abdallah, eight, and her siblings Angelina, 12, and Antony, 13
Danny Abdallah (right) said he forgave Davidson ‘for your sake, for my sake, and most importantly for my family’s sake’ in a victim impact statement the court heard in March
Davidson is two-and-a-half years into his sentence and is not expected to be eligible for parole until 2041.
Both the Abdullah children’s parents Danny and Leila and Sakr families have shown remarkable grace in the wake of the horrific incident, with Danny saying said he forgave Davidson ‘for your sake, for my sake, and most importantly for my family’s sake’.
But he also said at the time of Davidson’s sentencing that it did not matter whether he received one year or 100 years, ‘we won’t get Antony, Angelina, Sienna and Veronique back’.
‘We will all have our hearts broken until the day we take our last breath and no sentence can help ease that pain.’
One bright spot in the lives of the Abdallahs was in March this year when Danny and Leila welcomed a new baby girl, who they called Selina because it echoed the names of Sienna and Angelina.
In sentencing Davidson at Parramatta’s District Court in April, Judge James Bennett said Davidson’s menacing, dangerous and aggressive driving over a significant period leading up to the tragic event showed all responsibility to the road safety of others was abandoned.
The tragedy was inevitable, but the magnitude of the tragedy extended to the unimaginable, Judge Bennett said.
One bright spot in the lives of the Abdallahs was in March when Danny and Leila welcomed a new baby girl, who they called Selina because it echoed the names of Sienna and Angelina.