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“Forgiveness liberates the soul. It removes fear. That is why it is such a powerful weapon,” are the wise words of Nelson Mandela. Danny Abdallah, the father who has forgiven the man who killed his three children, could have written those words. He certainly lives and breathes them!

Danny Abdallah was the main speaker on Friday night at our recent Dads4Kids Men’s Leadership Summit last weekend. It was a transformative weekend for me. Firstly, I am no longer the boss at Dads4Kids. Secondly, Danny Abdallah’s story hit me hard, in the best possible sense.

Danny Abdallah could have easily smashed the man who killed his children, as at one stage he was the Australian kickboxing champion. He recently met the man in the jail where he is serving his sentence to tell him personally of his forgiveness.

Dannys story of meeting his children’s killer in jail will be seen on National TV on 7NEWS Spotlight tonight at 8:40 p.m. Hear him tell the full story in the summit video below.

I first heard Danny and Leila tell their story at the National Prayer Breakfast in Parliament House in Canberra in 2023. In a Sky News story titled, ‘I could see the remorse’: Danny Abdallah shares journey to forgive drunk driver who killed three of his kids in the Oatlands tragedy, Danny said the following about his story.

“Leila and I shared our journey (at the breakfast) of forgiveness and what it’s been like for our family – the hardship that we’ve been through and the heavy cross that we have to carry and how forgiveness got us through that valley of grief,” Mr Abdallah told AM Agenda host Laura Jayes. 

“It’s slowly getting us to a better place as a whole family.”

Asked if he has forgiven the man who killed his children, Mr Abdallah answered: “Yes I have.”

Mr Abdallah said he went to visit Davidson in prison after speaking with restorative justice. 

“I went and visited him and we met and I could see the remorse. It’s just really heavy,” he told Jayes. 

He said his main reason for forgiveness, aside from his faith, was not having the feeling of “revenge and bitterness and anger” in his household that could be passed down to his kids. 

“I’ve still got other kids I need to raise and make sure that they have the best environment at home,” Mr Abdallah said.

Davidson was originally sentenced to 28 years jail, which was later reduced on appeal to 20 years with a non-parole period of 15 years.

Mr Abdallah said his meeting with Davidson has helped him in the healing process. 

“I looked at it this way. No-one has impacted my life, outside of my parents, my wife and my kids — no one’s changed my life more than this man,” he said. 

“I’m a confrontational kind of person and I wanted to see who he was, and I wanted to tell him all about who my kids were.

“For me, it gave me — not closure — but it helped me move along in my life through the journey that I’m in.”

The Sydney father said Davidson has also become Maronite Catholic — the same faith as the Abdallah family. 

Mr Abdallah recently told Eternity magazine that Davidson has been reading the Bible in prison. 

Asked if Davidson’s remorse has helped his family cope with the loss of their children, Mr Abdallah said, “Yes and no.” 

“At the end of the day, there’s no winners in this and or for me,” he told Jayes. 

“I’ve always said justice is to serve the community, it doesn’t serve the victims.

“The ultimate justice for me to have my kids back. And that’s not going to happen. So, I don’t want to focus on that. I just want to focus on rebuilding my life and my family’s life.”

Danny doesn’t mention in the above video how his forgiveness saved the killer’s life. You see, he had a phone call from a man inside the jail, “Don’t worry, Danny, we will kill him for you.” Danny begged the inmate not to hurt this man, as he had forgiven him. As a result, the other inmates called off the inevitable death sentence for the child killer.

Danny has even promised the man’s parents that he will look after their son when he gets out of jail, as they might have passed on while waiting for their son to be released. Mahatma Gandhi said, “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” That’s why this article is called “Forgiveness on Steroids”.

Lovework

Please watch the above video and share it with your family because forgiveness is a ‘powerful weapon’ of love. As Lewis B Smedes said, “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”

Yours for True Freedom,
Warwick Marsh

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Republished with thanks to Dads4Kids.