Unrelenting sorrow experienced by the parents of a Melbourne boy fatally struck at school
In a heart-wrenching court appearance on a chilly Wednesday, Shaymaa Oun Ghazi Zuhaira, a mother from the local community, faced charges over a tragic accident at Auburn South Primary School that claimed the life of an 11-year-old boy, Jack Davey, and left three other children with serious injuries.
The incident occurred on October 29, 2024, at around 2.35pm, when Zuhaira, who was on a call with her husband, drove her Toyota SUV through the school's fence, mounting a picnic table where five schoolchildren were seated. The ensuing crash took Jack's life and left three other children with critical injuries.
According to court proceedings, Zuhaira had just finished a meeting with the school principal about her son when the accident occurred. The meeting, she claimed, was stressful and triggered previous trauma from her life in Iraq. It is believed that she may have mistaken the accelerator for a brake, leading to the devastating outcome.
In the immediate aftermath of the crash, Zuhaira told police that the wheel and accelerator were "stuck" and she kept repeating, "I can't control car" as she hit the children. One of the surviving child victims recalled the incident as "everything went dark, then under a car."
The courtroom was filled with grief and frustration as Jack's parents, Michael Davey and Jayde, expressed their sorrow and dismay at the charges against Zuhaira. Michael stated that Jack did not see the car coming, while Jayde felt that the charges did not reflect the outcome of the incident.
Zuhaira's lawyer, Matthew Senia, tried to suppress her name from media reports due to her trauma and mental health issues. Despite this, the proceedings were highly publicised, with Zuhaira interrupting the proceedings, loudly sobbing in the courtroom.
The prosecutor in the trial, whose name remains undisclosed, initially pressed charges of careless driving and failing to have proper control of a motor vehicle. However, Prosecutor Anthony Albore later withdrew the second charge against Zuhaira.
The surviving child victims and witnesses recounted their harrowing experiences, with one child saying, "me and friends sitting on a picnic table, a car came right at us." Another child, who miraculously escaped with minor bruising, recalled the incident as a blur, "it was like everything went dark, then under a car."
As the trial comes to a close, Zuhaira faces sentencing on Wednesday, with potential penalties including license disqualification, but it is unlikely that she will face jail time. The community continues to mourn the loss of Jack and hopes for the speedy recovery of the injured children.
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