Man who mowed down and killed four children jailed for 21 years
A drunk and drugged driver who killed four children after mowing them down on a Sydney footpath has been jailed for at least 21 years.
Samuel William Davidson was driving erratically and speeding when he struck Veronique Sakr, 11, and her cousins, Sienna Abdallah, eight, and her siblings Angelina, 12, and Antony, 13.
The children had been walking to buy ice-creams when the 31-year-old ploughed into them after his ute mounted a kerb at Oatlands, in Sydney's northwest on February 1 last year.
Judge James Bennett sentenced Davidson in Parramatta's District Court on Friday saying the menacing, dangerous and aggressive driving sustained over a significant period leading up to the tragic event showed all responsibility to the road safety of others was abandoned.
The tragedy was inevitable, but the magnitude of the tragedy extended to the unimaginable, Judge Bennett said.
Davidson was sentenced to a maximum term in prison of 28 years.
The professional truck driver pleaded guilty to manslaughter for the children he killed and also pleaded guilty to three charges relating to the injuries caused to three other children.
One boy has suffered permanent brain damage.
Danny Abdallah, father of three of the children who were killed, told the court in March that while he blamed Davidson, he also blamed the culture that says consuming excessive drugs and alcohol was "cool".
"This culture needs to stop, because of this culture I buried half of my children," Mr Abdallah said.
Immediately after the crash, a distressed Davidson was heard saying: "What have I done? ... I have killed people ... I am going to jail."
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