Father of boy tragically killed in school yard shares message to the driver

The father of an eight-year-old boy who died when a car ploughed into his classroom has forgiven the woman behind the wheel.

During a touching speech in the hearse of his son’s coffin the father shared his message of support to the woman.

Jihad Darwiche’s funeral on Thursday came two days after he and a friend, also eight, were killed when an out-of-control SUV smashed into their classroom at Banksia Road Primary School in Greenacre, Sydney.

A dashcam video from the hearse shows Jihad’s father speaking in Arabic while his son’s green casket – draped in a black and gold cloth – lies in the rear of the vehicle, reports Daily Mail.

The driver of the car, family friend Ahmad Hraichie, translates for Jihad’s father in the video broadcast via Facebook.

‘Allah has called for his boy, he [the father] is very happy,’ Mr Hraichie said.

‘The father says all the threats to this lady, the abuse, is not from them.

‘No retaliation is coming from the family of the boy. They have forgiven – if anything they want to sit with this lady and tell her we forgive you.’

They are asking that nobody abuse the school. It was NOT their fault.

People are making it bigger than what it is. They want the abuse towards the driver to stop.

The father says this lady has children herself and we have to forgive her! The family are urging everyone to stop the retaliation against the mother and the school. It was just an accident that we need to move on from.

Jihad’s father said his family hopes to extend a hand to the woman.

A mother of four has been charged after her car smashed into a primary school classroom in Sydney’s southwest killing two young boys. READ MORE.

I could only hope to have as much compassion as this family at such a time.

Our thoughts are with them.

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17 Comments

- - mom101628 said
  - 28 Dec 2017
    10:00 pm
Lovely that he is asking for the abuse to this driver to stop and that he has forgiven the driver. After all this was an accident – she surely didn’t deliberately drive into the school classroom night like the recent attacks in Melbourne 2 years running.

- - country chick said
  - 29 Nov 2017
    4:50 pm
There are many stages of grief. It is only the beginning. Nice that he isn’t laying blame.

- - sars_angelchik said
  - 15 Nov 2017
    6:48 pm
Wow what a beautiful person, I think there are many who couldn’t have such a mature and compassionate outlook amidst such a tragedy.

- - BellaB said
  - 13 Nov 2017
    4:34 pm
I hope I would do this, but I don’t think it would be this soon. Generous.

- - rovermum said
  - 13 Nov 2017
    11:32 am
This was such a tragedy. I don’t believe I could find forgiveness… especially so soon. That’s what faith means to some people. Remarkable really.

- - ella12 said
  - 13 Nov 2017
    11:20 am
How amazing and so be brave of him to forgive like that.

- - mom112217 said
  - 12 Nov 2017
    2:51 pm
To forgive the driver for the loss of his son is amazing,l don’t know what l would do in the situation.

- - rachel1970 said
  - 12 Nov 2017
    12:47 pm
how heartbreaking, my thoughts are with these families. You think your children are safe at school and something like this happens, terrible.

- - tessie said
  - 11 Nov 2017
    1:34 pm
My condolences to both families who lost their sons. I hope people take notice of what this father says and leaves both the woman involved and the school alone. It was a terrible accident and nothing more.
- mom93821 replied
  
  13 Nov 2017 , 5:42 am
  It shows unbelievable courage in this tragic situation and still amazes me.
- - mom93821 said
  - 11 Nov 2017
    1:04 pm
This display of compassion is amazing.

- - Ellen said
  - 11 Nov 2017
    7:46 am
A beautiful attitude, God bless them !

- - ashna9 said
  - 10 Nov 2017
    7:12 pm
He has a much bigger heart than me. I would never have forgiven this person.

- - mom206279 said
  - 10 Nov 2017
    6:45 pm
It was a horrible accident but I don’t think I could ever forgive the person who killed my child.

- - june11 said
  - 10 Nov 2017
    4:35 pm
Initially I would be angry and very upset. That is only human nature. Until we know exactly how the accident happened we shouldn’t judge too much. It could have been mechanical failure. We had an accident as a result of the throttle jamming open to full accelleration and brakes not responding because of that. It also related to a fault in the computer (black box under the bonnet)

- - nealsq said
  - 10 Nov 2017
    2:06 pm
What a wonderful attitude to have, I would like to think I could do that but the reality is that I would more than likely be very angry and bitter even at an accident