For the second time this year, Oatlands Golf Club has rejected the proposal to build a memorial for the four children tragically run down by a drunk driver last year in Sydney last year.
The Abdallah children, Antony, 13, Angelina, 12, and Sienna, 8, and their cousin Veronique Sakr, 11, were killed on the outskirts of Oatlands Golf Club, in February, 2020, when the driver ploughed his car into them. Now, the families hopes of a memorial garden for the children have been dashed by the golf club, which has refused the request to build on the border of its sprawling grounds.
Despite the memorial having the full support of the Parramatta council – who worked in conjunction with the family to plan and design the garden – the proposal has been dismissed twice by the golf club board. According to The Daily Telegraph, the board’s latest rejection was because the garden would “unduly remind neighbours of the tragedy”.
The Daily Telegraph reported that the planned memorial would only slightly encroach on a bushy area of the golf course, however, despite this, the club said the design was “well outside the scale of what had been communicated as appropriate”.
The family issued a heartbreaking statement on Wednesday, pleading with the board to reconsider their refusal. “We love our children dearly and we will always grieve the loss of our beautiful kids,” the families said. “Our proposed commemorative garden simply honours our children, Antony, Angelina, Sienna and Veronique and our survivors Liana, Charbel and Mabelle.
“We respectfully ask the board to reconsider its decision so that our children can be honoured and the community can have a place to remember the Oatlands tragedy, which had such an impact on our nation.”
The garden has had the full support of not only the council but also local MPs and fiery radio host Ray Hadley, who had previous supported the club as he believed a compromise would be reached. The 2GB host spoke on air on The Ray Hadley Morning Show on Wednesday slamming the club for its final decision. According to 2GB, Member for Parramatta Geoff Lee told Ben Fordham negotiations have now formally ended after a year.
“Now, I feel a bit silly, actually,” he said “I defended you thinking commonsense would prevail, but obviously not!”
“The insurance is covered by Parramatta City Council and you did this, you cold-hearted bastards! And I had the temerity to actually defend you previously.”
In early April, the drunk driver, Samuel William Davidson, was sentenced to a maximum of 28 years behind bars with 21 years non-parole at Parramatta District Court over the deaths of the four children. With the time he had already served, he will be eligible for release in January, 2041.
Following the verdict, the father of three of the children killed in the crash, Daniel Abdallah, read an emotional statement to the media and called into question Australia’s culture around drugs and alcohol. Abdallah said that the sentencing was “another milestone in our journey of grief”.
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