SYDNEY: A drunk driver slammed his pickup truck into a group of children in Sydney, killing two sisters, their brother and a cousin and seriously injuring three others, police alleged on Sunday.
The 29-year-old driver was charged with manslaughter and high-range drink driving following the incident late on Saturday in the Oatlands suburb of western Sydney.
The children were on a footpath when the four-wheel drive jumped the curb and rammed into them, police alleged.
Three girls aged 8 to 12 and a 13-year-old boy died at the scene and two other girls and a boy were injured and taken to hospital, where they were in a stable condition on Sunday, police said.
The dead included two sisters and their brother, three of the six children of Daniel and Leila Abdallah.
“Yesterday I lost three of my children. I had a cousin, Bridget, she lost her daughter as well,” Daniel Abdallah told reporters on Sunday morning.
“I’m numb, probably that’s how I feel at the moment,” he said.
“All I just want to say is, please, drivers be careful. These kids were just walking innocently, enjoying each others’ company and this morning I woke up, I have lost three kids.”
A makeshift memorial was later put up where the accident occurred, with people coming to place flowers, teddy bears and candles as well as pay their respects.
The driver, whose name has not been released, was due in court on Sunday facing 20 charges.
Meanwhile, Australia’s agriculture minister has been forced to resign after she was found to have steered public money to sports clubs in seats the conservative government was targeting ahead of an election.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Bridget McKenzie — a former sports minister — had resigned for failing to reveal she was a member of one of the shooting clubs that received taxpayer cash.
Morrison, who is already facing heavy criticism for his handling of Australia’s months-long bushfire crisis, insisted he had dealt with the week-long grants scandal in a “stable, calm and careful” manner.
— AFP
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