
A year ago, siblings Antony, 13, Angelina, 12, and Sienna Abdallah, 9, and their cousin Veronique Sakr, 11, with three other kids from their extended family, went for a walk to get some ice cream.
That Saturday night on February 1, 2020, the four children were fatally struck by a ute that mounted a footpath in Oatlands, in Sydney's northwest. The three other children were taken to hospital, one in a critical condition.
Now, on the anniversary of the children's deaths, the Abdallah and Sakr families are focusing on one thing - forgiveness.
On Sunday, the families launched 'i4give Day', which will be held each year in memory of the children they lost and to help others through their grief.
"I just want to encourage people on the 1st of February to stop, reflect, think and reconsider their life," Leila Abdallah - the mother of Sienna, Angelina, and Antony - told 7News.
"If they have problems with anyone in their life, reach out."
Watch: Daniel Abdullah speaks about his children the morning after the crash. Post continues below.
Forgiveness is something that has helped both families deal with their grief.
"Forgiveness allows us to move forward with our lives and takes away that bitterness and anger and really focuses on us healing," Veronique's mother Bridget Sakr told Deb Knight on 2GB.
She said her family's Christian faith has helped them forgive the driver, Samuel Davidson.
"We are agonising day by day but we turn that agony into something that gives us a better feeling and a better emotion and that is to be around those who love us and to draw in the faith that God has given us and that is to be a true Christian and forgive."
Danny Abdullah, the father of Sienna, Angelina, and Antony, also chose to put his anger aside and forgive for the sake of his other three children.
"We had to make a choice on which partner that we want to take and I didn't want to lose my whole family, the three kids that are alive, they deserve to live a full life as well," he explained on Ben Fordham Live.
"I didn't want my kids… to be angry, to feel that they lost their dad through anger, revenge and bitterness."
While he forgives the driver, Abdullah says he's still in pain.
"Forgiveness is for yourself more than the driver," he said.
"I'm still in pain, I still cry, I still miss my children but my soul isn't imprisoned anymore."
Top Comments