MONDAY FEBRUARY, 3
The father of three children killed in a horror crash at Oatlands near Parramatta has spoken of his devastating loss the morning after the tragedy.
Daniel Abdallah and his wife Leila lost three of their six children on Saturday night.
Antony, 13, Angelina, 12, Sienna, 9 and their second cousin Veronique Sakr, were killed when they were hit by a 4WD while walking to get ice cream on Saturday night.
Emergency services were called to Bettington Road just before 8pm, where seven children had been hit by a 4WD allegedly driven by Samuel Davidson, 29.
“I don’t know what to say, I’m numb,” he said.
“All I just want to say is ‘Please, drivers be careful.’ These kids were just walking innocently, enjoying each other’s company, and this morning I woke up – I have lost three kids.”
The driver has been charged with 20 offences including four counts of manslaughter, four counts of dangerous driving occasioning death from driving under influence, four counts of dangerous driving occasioning death, driving with a high-range blood alcohol reading and driving through a red light.
Mr Davidson allegedly had a blood alcohol reading of 0.150, three times the legal limit.
His case was heard at Parramatta Bail Court on Sunday where he did not appear and there was no application for bail.
The case has been adjourned until April 2 at Parramatta Local Court.
Mr Davidson and a 24-year-old male passenger were both uninjured in the crash.
Police said the passenger tried to assist at the crash scene.
Mr Abdallah described his son Antony as a “very handsome boy” who loved basketball.
“Actually he woke up that morning and said, ‘We’re going to play this game for Kobe [Byrant].”
He said Angelina was “my little helper…anything I needed, she had my back.”
He said Sienna was “my little diva, little actress”.
“They have gone to a better place,” he said.
Assistant Commissioner Michael Corby from the Traffic and Highway Patrol Command spoke about the “absolutely tragic event”.
“Our thoughts go out to the families concerned. Because all of the children were related, it makes it all the more tragic for the families,” he said.
He said emergency services, assisted by a number of local people, had attended a “difficult scene, it was very horrific.”
There were several witnesses and police had a “strong case”, and would be prosecuting the charges to the fullest extent of the law.
He reiterated that drink-driving and speeding would not be tolerated.
“Tragedies do occur, but in my time in policing, this is one of the most tragic, involving young children dying in a very tragic circumstance,” he said.
“It is hard to imagine the grief that the family is going through at the moment.”
Police have begun an investigation into the crash where the scene will be examined by specialist police from the Metropolitan Crash Investigation Unit.
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A man shot dead by London police after he attacked people had recently been released from prison after being jailed for terrorist offences.
BBC reports that Sudesh Amman was released around a week ago after serving half of his three year sentence for terror offences.
He was under police surveillance at the time of the attack, which police believe was an Islamist-inspired incident.
Investigators say, he had a hoax explosives device strapped to his body.
One victim was hospitalised with life-threatening stab wounds following the attack, which took place at around 2pm on Sunday (UK time) in the Streatham section, eight kilometres south of central London.
Officers responded quickly to the stabbing because of a “proactive counterterrorism operation” that was underway, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Lucy D’Orsi said.
Video from the scene showed three undercover police officers in an unmarked car emerging with weapons.
“The circumstances are being assessed,” the Metropolitan Police force tweeted.
“The incident has been declared as terrorist-related.”
Police said a male stabbing victim is being treated for life-threatening injuries, while one woman has non-life threatening injuries and another woman has minor injuries.
“At this stage it is believed a number of people have been stabbed,” police said.
“The circumstances are being assessed; the incident has been declared as terrorist-related.”
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Chinese authorities are facing a fresh disease outbreak that is mostly affecting animals but could potentially be deadly among people.
The Ministry of Agriculture said on the weekend that a fresh outbreak of lethal bird flu had been found in poultry in the southern province of Hunan where officials had ordered the slaughter of 17,828 chickens.
The H5N1 bird flu virus was found at a farm in the city of Shaoyang.
The farm had 7,850 chickens and more than half had died from the bird flu, the ministry said. It called the strain “highly pathogenic”.
Bird flu is found naturally among wild aquatic birds but can infect domestic poultry and other birds.
It does not usually infect humans although isolated cases have occurred.
The bird flu outbreak comes as China battles to stem the deadly coronavirus that has spread worldwide.
There have now been 12 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Australia, with more than 14,000 cases globally and more than 300 deaths.
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