Father livestreams message of forgiveness from son's funeral

  • 10/11/2017

The family of an eight-year-old killed after a car crashed into children at a Sydney school have issued a heart-breaking message forgiving the driver.

As the father drove in a hearse on the day of the boy's funeral, his son's green coffin behind him, he issued a message to the community calling for "no retaliation".

Jihad Darwiche died after a Toyota Kluger hit the weatherboard building at Banksia Road Primary School earlier this week. Another child was also killed, and numerous others injured.

Police have charged the driver, Maha Al-Shennag, with causing death by dangerous driving and dangerous driving occasioning bodily harm and causing actual bodily harm by misconduct.

Speaking in Arabic and English, Jihad's father and close relative, Ahmas Hraichie, offered an invitation to Al-Shennag, a widowed mother-of-four.

"The father said that all this stuff happening about the threats to this lady and abuse is not from them. No retaliation is coming from the family of the boy," Mr Hraichie said.

"They have forgiven. If anything, they want to sit with this lady and talk to her and tell her we forgive you but as you know right now, it is a hard time with the funeral and all the people that are visiting.

"But once it's over, she is welcome to come and sit with the family to have a meal and to talk about how they can move forward with what's happened.

"So please brothers and sisters, nobody abuse the school. The school had nothing to do with it. This is the will of the creator. He has ordained this. This was written well before the child was born that this would happen.

"The father says they are making it bigger than it is. They are telling everyone out there. Forgive her. It was an honest mistake. It could have happened to any one of us.

"This was an accident. The lady has four children of her own at school. Nothing could have changed anything that day."

Newshub.