Mum responsible for Sydney school crash faces court for first time

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

Original story 7 November: The female driver hit the demountable near Boronia Road in Greenacre around 9.45am on Tuesday, police say.

It’s believed the car was within the school grounds when the incident happened, Nine Network reported.

There were chaotic scenes at the school as frantic parents raced to check on the welfare of their children.

Multiple paramedic crews attended and police established a crime scene.

The female driver of the car was taken to hospital for mandatory blood and urine tests.

Two boys, aged eight, have sadly died. There were 24 children in the classroom when the crash happened. Seventeen children and a female teacher were assessed on the grounds by paramedics.

Update 8 November

A mother-of-four, Maha Al-Shennag, 52, is reportedly desperately sorry following the accident in which her vehicle crashed into a Sydney classroom, killing two young boys, yesterday.

Five children were taken to hospital, where two eight-year-old boys were pronounced dead.

Ms Al-Shennag has been charged with two counts of dangerous driving occasioning death, drive manner dangerous, and negligent driving (occasioning death).

Her licence has been suspended.

Police will allege she was distracted by something in her car, which then caused the crash.

Ms Al-Shennag, who was not injured in the crash, is now reportedly begging the parents of the children killed and injured in the crash for forgiveness.

Her lawyer, Nick Hanna, told The Daily Telegraph she is “deeply sorry for the loss and hurt suffered by the children, the school, the families and the community”.

“Her thoughts and prayers are with all those affected,” he said.

Ms Al-Shennag was granted conditional bail ahead of an appearance at Bankstown Local Court on November 29.

Update 29 November

Mum faces court for the first time since being charged over a crash at a Sydney school which killed two young children and injured many others, reports 7 news.

Maha Al-Shennag was surrounded by a small group of supporters and shielded herself with an umbrella as she left her brief appearance at Bankstown Local Court on Wednesday.

Ms Al-Shennag, who did not enter a plea on Wednesday, is charged with two counts of dangerous driving occasioning death and one count of negligent driving occasioning death.

She is also charged with causing bodily harm by misconduct and dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm in relation to two other injured people.

The single mother is on bail under several conditions including that she not drive a vehicle, that she surrender her Jordanian and Australian passports and that she report to a police station three days a week, court documents state.

She will face court again in February 2018.

The father of one of the young boys who sadly died has forgiven the woman and called for people to leave her alone.

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19 Comments

- - mom101628 said
  - 02 Dec 2017
    10:43 pm
This is a terrible tragedy. The court case will be harrowing for all involved.

- - mom206279 said
  - 30 Nov 2017
    2:40 pm
A very sad accident. A good reminder why you have to be so careful behind the wheel, especially around schools.

- - mom160421 said
  - 30 Nov 2017
    12:17 pm
I’m sure it was not this woman’s intention to cause harm, and I would assume she is very sorry for her actions, but who else is to be held responsible for two young lives being taken? The families of these two young boys will never be the same again – their lives have changed forever. The children of the driver have also been adversely affected. This is a very tragic set of circumstances.

- - Ellen said
  - 30 Nov 2017
    4:25 am
Very tragic indeed !
Bless the families involved who lost their loved ones and bless the lady who drove the car.
To be honest I feel sometimes distracted as well. Especially when my kids fight in the car or when my youngest (who has Down Syndrome) unbuckles her seatbelt whilst I’m driving. These are serious and dangerous situations indeed.

- - youngoldlady said
  - 30 Nov 2017
    2:45 am
She may say she is sorry but she caused this to happen. Too many people say I am sorry and please forgive me for doing the wrong thing. It is the first thing your lawyer tells you to do, so others think the person cares. I am talking from experience, my brother’s killer quit his job and said he was very sorry that he was driving the car that killed his best mate. Yet even though he broke his leg in the crash, he was driving another car and turned it over. His father saying I do not know what I will do with him. This woman will be like others, have her licence suspended or cancelled for a period and carry on with her life. The families of the children hurt having to see this woman nearly ever day at school. No will win in this, her children have become involed in this too now.

- - Staceylee101 said
  - 29 Nov 2017
    7:12 pm
This is so tragic why on earth was she able to drive so close to the school classroom? At all the schools I attended they had metal/brick Collums at the front gates so to stop anyone driving in. I think all schools need this now

- - mom19782016 said
  - 29 Nov 2017
    4:55 pm
She was “distracted” by something? Like a phone? Accidents happen and this one is so tragic but I would be outraged if she was texting or phoning and that caused the deaths of these two boys.

- - country chick said
  - 29 Nov 2017
    4:47 pm
Tragic all round, devastating for those who lost children, but also the drivers four kids… their lives are getting torn apart too, so sad.

- - BellaB said
  - 09 Nov 2017
    11:06 am
So sad fr everyone. She made a dreadful mistake for some reason, with catastrophic results.

- - nealsq said
  - 09 Nov 2017
    10:29 am
Our primary school had to put boom gates in to stop parents parking in the wrong places

- - mom90758 said
  - 08 Nov 2017
    7:45 pm
I read that the woman driver is a widow. What will happen now to her, having four kids? Difficult, very difficult everything…
- june11 replied
  
  11 Nov 2017 , 2:55 pm
  More to the point what will happen to her children? Was there special circumstances she was given to drive on the school grounds at all. I know my situation was different but when I was in year 7 during exams I broke my foot and wasn’t allowed to walk on it at all for a week. (I had to hop) Crutches were not suggested at all. My Mum was given permission to drive near to my classroom…..after all the children had gone into the classroom and before it was time to leave. This only happened for the 3 days of exams. Normally we always walked to school.
- - mom90758 said
  - 08 Nov 2017
    3:08 pm
Also asbestos?
I wonder too why that woman was driving inside school grounds!!

- - Ellen said
  - 08 Nov 2017
    4:11 am
Shocking news ! Praying for comfort and peace for the families involved.
Wonder how this female driver could smash into the classroom.

- - mom101628 said
  - 07 Nov 2017
    10:58 pm
Saw this on the news tonight – such a tragedy. Do hope the other children injured will be OK and the police find out how this terrible thing happened.

- - mom206279 said
  - 07 Nov 2017
    5:26 pm
I just saw this on the news. Its absolutely horrible. Kids should be safe in school.