A Texas mother has confronted the man who left her child brain-dead in 2009.
Five years ago, on February 20, 2009, Stewart Richardson, a man with a history of drunk driving arrests, slammed into the back of a car carrying 2-year-old Abdallah Khader. The crash left the child brain-dead.
Today Loubna Khader, Aballah’s mother, visited Richardson in prison to let him know of her grief.
Initially, Khader showed Richardson photographs of Abdallah as a smiling toddler, then replaced them with recent pictures of the boy, now 6-years-old, looking dazed.
"It's been five years today! Five years! My son is dying every single day,” Khader shouted at Richardson while being filmed by WFAA-TV.
As the years progress, Abdallah continues to grow sicker and uses an oxygen tank to fill his lungs, which are failing.
"The last year, my son's health has been declining really fast. Originally they said five years, so this year, when he started getting sick, my heart started pounding," Aballah’s mother said.
Adding to the family’s frustration, Richardson has yet to face a trial. He has spent five years behind bars waiting.
According to The New York Daily News, the Khader family and Richardson are waiting for an appeals court to consider requests by prosectors to use drunk driving charges from other states in his trial, which is unusual as states generally charge individuals separately.
Richardson has expressed remorse for the family and his crimes, but Aballah’s mother doesn’t believe she will ever be able to forgive the man who effectively stole her child’s life.
“I tried so many times to convince myself to forgive him, because it’s not going to change anything ... But the minute I saw him, I just saw the devil in him.”