How the tragic lives of Sydney-based ‘Covid twins’ from Iraq have …
Removalist 'Covid twins' who become Australia's most hated men when they drove to a virus-free town at the height of the outbreak have made a stunning U-turn - after family tragedy and national shame
- Roni and Ramsin Shawka breached Covid rules
- Twins travelled while infected with Covid-19
- Their mother subsequently died from the virus
- But they now appear to have found happiness
By Max Aitchison For Daily Mail Australia[1]
Published: 02:25, 16 April 2023 | Updated: 02:56, 16 April 2023
The pandemic was harder than most on migrant twins Roni and Ramsin Shawka, who gained national notoriety for driving across locked down New South Wales[2] as removalists after testing positive to Covid at the height of the 'Delta' outbreak.
Within days, they'd gone from unknown removalists trying to earn a living for their family in western Sydney[3], to becoming the state's most notorious men - a circus which ended in the devastating loss of their mother to the virus.
But nearly two years later, their fortunes have turned around, with both finding happiness and marrying their partners in glamorous ceremonies.
Ramsin wed his now-wife Silvia in November last year, and brother Roni tied the knot last month.
'We are very happy, it's going very well,' his wife Maryana told Daily Mail Australia.
Roni shared a video of himself grinning as he was driven to the ceremony in a Maserati.
But his late mother has never been far from his mind and he honoured her memory at his wedding with a portrait of her placed on a chair near the altar.
He regularly shares images of her on social media.
'There is no taste for life without you, my mother, I love you,' he captioned one picture of the pair of them together.
In one of Australia's bizarre Covid-era moments, in July 2021, the then 28-year-old twins faced the prospect of jail time and hefty fines for their illegal road trip.
Roni Shawka (pictured, right) married his fiance Maryana (left) last month
The ceremony honoured Mr Shawka's late mother, Saeeda, who died after contracting the Delta strain of Covid-19 in July 2021
Ramsin Shawka (pictured, right) married Silvia in November last year
Just 48 hours after they were charged by police over their health order breach, amid a tidal wave of public outrage, their mother, 54-year-old Saeeda, tragically died from the virus.
In heartbreaking scenes, the twins, who moved from Iraq to Australia with their parents, were forced to isolate in a parked car outside the family home while undertakers removed their beloved mother's body.
Roni proposed to Iraqi-born Maryana last year on a patch of grass overlooking the Harbour Bridge that was laid with a red carpet, bouquets of roses, sparklers, champagne on ice and a sign saying 'marry me'.
Maryana shared a five-minute-long professional video of the proposal on social media, complete with drone footage and lingering shots of the pair embracing one another.
Roni (pictured) was driven to his wedding ceremony last month in a Maserati
He proposed to his girlfriend Maryana (left) in front of Sydney Harbour Bridge in November last year
Roni (pictured, right) has documented his married life on social media, including a helicopter tour
Last year, the loved-up couple even got their names tattooed to each other's wrists.
Roni has since documented their married life together on Instagram, sharing pictures of them on trips to the Sea World theme park in Queensland, an indoor sky-diving experience and a helicopter tour.
At the time of their illegal road trip, Greater Sydney was under strict lockdown and public health orders stipulated all positive cases must isolate immediately.
The pair had been tested just before leaving Sydney but had pressed on with the delivery immediately instead of isolating while they waited for the result.
The Shawkas gained national notoriety of their work trip in July 2021 when Australia was battling to contain the highly contagious Indian Delta strain
The twin brothers were forced to isolate in a car outside their family home as undertakers removed their mother's body
TIMELINE OF RONI AND RAMSIN SHAWKA'S TRAGIC COVID TALE THAT DIVIDED AUSTRALIA
July 15, 2021: The removalist twins travel around NSW on a work trip after Roni tested positive for deadly delta strain
July 16: Police intercept the removalists in Molong, near Orange. They are escorted to their Green Valley family home to isolate for 14 days
July 19: Saeeda, the twins' 54-year-old mother, dies after contracting Covid-19. The twins are forced to isolate in a car outside the family home as undertakers remove their mother's body
August 6: Heartbroken brothers wearing covid-secure masks and gloves bury their mother alongside only eight other family members as hundreds pay their respects online
November 24: The twins are convicted, fined and sentenced to a one-year community corrections order by a magistrate but spared jail because of their poor English and their mother's tragic death
AdvertisementAnd when NSW Health phoned to tell Roni he had tested positive and needed to isolate immediately, his poor English had meant he did not understand.
Ramsin and co-worker Maryo Shanki, 21, were also later confirmed Covid positive.
Police eventually tracked down their truck in Molong, near Orange, 300km north west of Sydney, and pulled it over to stop them infecting anyone else.
However, back home in Sydney, the pair had given Covid to their mother, 54-year-old Saeeda.
She became seriously ill and died from the disease at home just a couple of days later.
In heartbreaking scenes, the brothers - who were still in isolation - were forced to watch the family tragedy unfold from inside a sealed car outside the home.
In addition to her Covid diagnosis, grieving family members attributed Mrs Shawka's sudden death to the 'shock' of the punishment faced by her boys, her neighbours said.
'The shock of learning her boys were fined £22,000, that's what did it (killed Mrs Shawka),' one neighbour said.
'That and just the heartbreak of seeing her sons faces all over the news.
The fear of being spat at in public, of being shamed. All over a mistake.'
A funeral for their mother took place with just 10 people under strict lockdown conditions almost three weeks later after the twins were freed from isolation.
In November they were fined £1,100 each for not complying with a COVID-19 notice direction and ordered to pay NSW Police another £2,000 in decontamination cleaning fees for the vehicle used in arresting them.
They faced possible prison sentences for putting the community at 'extreme risk', but Orange Local Court Magistrate David Day said he took mercy on them because of their poor English and their mother's death.
Incredibly though, the court heard NSW Health believed no-one else outside of their immediate family had been infected by their run into country NSW.
The funeral for their mother (pictured) took place with just 10 people under strict lockdown conditions almost three weeks later after the twins were freed from isolation
From trouble to tragedy: How Covid-positive twin removalists who travelled to regional NSW returned home only for their mother to die
The four-man removalist crew were already in Orange when NSW Health called to inform Roni that he had tested positive to the highly contagious Indian Delta strain.
Seen here is a map of their route
JULY 15- Four removalists leave West Hoxton in Sydney's south-west, and travel to Figtree, near Wollongong.
Their boss at On Time Removals, Aram Yousif, asks them to get a Covid test pefore proceeding to the state's far west, on the next leg of their journey.
Mr Yousif was told: 'Aram we are very healthy, we have no symptoms, why should we do the test?'
The removalists get tested but allegedly proceed on to Orange, in the NSW Central West, rather than isolating as required by law.
JULY 16 - About 2.30pm, police in Molong speak to the removalists after receiving a tip they had travelled from Sydney's south-west.
Police determine the men had travelled from West Hoxton to Figtree, near Woolongong, and then on to Molong.
They officers learn the men allegedly had pit stops at South Bowenfels and Orange along the way.
Officers allege that while in Orange, one of the crew received a call from NSW Health saying they had tested positive to Covid-19.
However, three of the men then continued to Molong, police claimed.
Those men - twins Roni and Ramsen Shawka, both 27, and Maryo Shanki, 21 - were charged with breaching the health orders and escorted back to Sydney.
JULY 17 - The crew is criticised by Police Minister David Elliott, who described their alleged actions as an 'unfathomable' and 'blatant' breach of the law.
'This thoughtless act has now placed our regional communities in New South Wales at the greatest risk so far with this pandemic,' Mr Elliott said in a press release announcing the charges.
Mr Elliott warns the men could face six months' imprisonment and/or an £11,000 fine each, if found guilty of violatnig the pubilc health order.
JULY 18 -
Both Roni Shakwa and his boss, Mr Yousef, tell media outlets the crew had poor English skills and what happened was a misunderstanding.
Roni told The Daily Telegraph he felt 'very bad' about travelling so far with the virus but said 'it's not my fault'.
Mr Shawka recounted that he was driving in Orange when he got a call from a NSW Health saying to stop working and go home.
'I gave them the number of my boss, I told them my language is not very good,' Mr Shawka was quoted saying.
'I (did) not kill someone ...
I was (doing) my work, I swear to God I didn't know (I was positive).'
JULY 19 - The twins' mother, Saeeda Shawka, is found dead at home in Green Valley.
Her children are forced to quarantine in the car on the street outside the family home for up to six hours.
In a statement, NSW Health confirms that Mrs Shawka was Covid-positive at the time.
'NSW Health today sadly reports the death of a woman in her 50s who was a confirmed Covid-19 case,' a representative said.
'She was a resident of south western Sydney and a close contact of a Covid case.'
References
- ^ Max Aitchison For Daily Mail Australia (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ New South Wales (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Sydney (www.dailymail.co.uk)