Oatlands crash: Driver who killed four children funded by taxpayers in push for reduced sentence

The man who killed four children in Sydney’s Oatlands crash is getting his second attempt at his sentence reduced, funded by taxpayers, leaving the victims’ heartbroken family ‘hurt and bewildered’.

Samuel William Davidson was speeding when he hit Sienna Abdallah, 8, her siblings Angelina, 12, and Antony, 13, and their cousin Veronique Sakr, 11, as they were walking home in February 2020 in Oatlands, northwest Sydney.

The tragedy captured the hearts of thousands of Australians, especially after the devastated parents of the Abdallah children said they had forgiven Davidson.

Davidson was sentenced to a maximum of 28 years in prison, but in July his sentence was reduced by six years by the Supreme Court of Criminal Appeal.

He plans to return to court to appeal his sentence while receiving legal funding, which means taxpayers will foot the bill for the second attempt to have his sentence reduced.

Bridget Sakr, the mother of 11-year-old accident victim Veronique, said she was hurt and dismayed after learning Davidson was eligible for taxpayer-funded legal aid.

The grieving mother met with Attorney General Mark Speakman last week, who said he would investigate who qualifies for the funding.

“He said he is going to look into the legal aid criterion,” Ms Sakr told the Daily telegram.

“I felt very positive, he listened, he was empathetic, he saw how upset we were. Essentially he took what we had to say and he said, ‘I’ll try to revisit the criterion for legal aid and what legal aid means.’

Davidson was charged with four counts of manslaughter, one count of dangerous driving resulting in grievous bodily harm and two counts of bodily harm by misconduct and is eligible for parole on January 31, 2035.

In May this year, the court heard several reasons why Davidson, who killed four children and injured three others in the crash, had to serve his full sentence.

Prosecutors described how Samuel Davidson, drunk and high on drugs, sped through a red light, drove on the wrong side of the road and forced a motorcycle to swerve before entering a sidewalk on the day of the horror crash.

Davidson claimed his sentence is “crushing” and he deserves to be cut by more than half because he is sorry and his ADHD makes prison life difficult.

Appearing via video link from maximum security Hunter Prison on May 2, Davidson sat in prison green and a face mask, staring straight ahead as his solicitor Stephen Odgers QC described his “good character.”

“He was a 29-year-old with no significant traffic violations, had never drunk driving, was appropriately remorseful and his ADHD will make his imprisonment more difficult,” Odgers said.

He argued that Davidson’s maximum prison sentence of 28 years with a minimum of 21 years should instead be reduced to a minimum of eight years and four months.

But Davidson’s appeal also contained shocking details about the wild behavior he displayed before committing the offenses.

Prosecutor David Kell SC argued that he had gone off his ADHD medication several times before the tragedy and indulged in alcohol and illegal drugs.

Mr Kell said Davidson had been diagnosed with ADHD at the age of five, had periodically stopped taking medication for the condition and was addicted to alcohol and drugs.

He said this “history of being on and off ADHD medication” was Davidson’s choice.

During a wild ride that lasted a total of 5.3 km, he left a gas station at high speed and then ran a red light.

He then engaged in “threatening driving” by driving close to the rear of another driver’s vehicle, about two feet behind, and swerved left and right to get past the car.

The other driver had two children in her car and in her rearview mirror she saw Davidson and his passenger shirtless and smiling.

Davidson then drove on the wrong side of the road and overtook another car.

Traveling south on Bettingdon Road, he clocked a speed between 122km/h and 125km/h in what was a 50km/h zone.

Approaching a right turn, he was traveling at 83 mph, and due to his excessive speed entered the bend in the road and lost control of his vehicle.

Climbing the curb and footpath, he hit the Abdallah children and their cousin, killing four and injuring three, one of them seriously.

Analysis of his vehicle later revealed that during the five seconds before he hit the children, his brake pedal had not been pressed once.

The families of the slain children have shown remarkable mercy in the aftermath of the horrific incident, with Mr Abdallah saying he forgave Davidson ‘for your sake, for my sake and most of all for the sake of my family’.