After three of their children were killed in a horrific crash caused by a drunk and drugged driver, an Australian family has been invited to share their tale with Pope Francis.
In February 2020, Leila and Danny Abdallah’s daughters, Sienna, 8, and Angelina, 12, their son Anthony, 13, and niece Veronique Sakr, 11, were on their way to purchase ice cream when they were killed by a drunk motorist who was also high on narcotics.
The Abdallah family credits their faith with assisting them in coping after the tragedy, and they have been invited to present their story at the 2022 World Meeting of Families in Rome, which will take place at the end of June.
In an Instagram post on Saturday, Ms Abdallah wrote that the pair were ‘honoured’ and ‘humbled’ by the invitation to share their story.
‘Danny and I feel humbled and honoured that our Bishop Antoine Charbel Taraby invited us to attend the WMOF 2022 (World meeting of families 2022) all glory to God always,’ Ms Abdallah wrote.
‘Our mission is to serve the Lord and our children for the rest of our lives.
‘Please pray that we can have i4give on a global platform starting at the Vatican.
‘We thank all our fellow Australians for their love and ongoing support, you have showed Danny and I the true meaning of the Aussie spirit and we are grateful.’
Leila and Danny started the i4give foundation following the tragedy – a Christ-centred foundation aimed at engaging communities across Australia in a ‘shared embrace of the universal good of forgiveness’.
Samuel William Davidson ploughed into the children after he mounted a kerb on Bettington Road, at Oatlands, in Sydney’s northwest on Febraury 1 in 2020.
The 31-year-old son of a former policeman had been sitting poolside with his housemates drinking Vodka Cruisers and beers, having his first drink about 7am before consuming drugs and driving.
Witnesses saw him speeding through a red light, swerving anti-clockwise around a round-about, and driving at a maximum speed of 133km/h in a 50km/h zone.
After the crash, Davidson appeared distressed and was heard saying: ‘What have I done? … I have killed people … I am going to jail.’
Davidson was sentenced last year to a maximum of 28-year prison sentence with a minimum 21 year sentence which does not expire until 2041.
Both the Abdullah family and Sakr family have shown remarkable grace in the wake of the horrific incident, with Danny saying 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 Abdallah’s 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.
Despite losing three children, when Ms Abdallah, 37, is asked how many kids she has, she always says seven – ‘three in heaven and four here’.
The Abdallah’s have two boys, Alex and Michael, and two girls, Selina and Liana – who survived but sustained a head injury at the time of the incident.
