Soccer team is accused of axing boy, seven, because of his autism: 'He cried for days and days'
A local club football team has been scrutinised by a seven-year-old boy's parents after the team abruptly told the youngster, who has autism, that he could no longer play for the club.
Zaid De Crea-Sak's mum, Angela De Crea, claims that Salisbury United FC had not given the parents a clear reason for why the boy had been dismissed.
His dismissal came after an altercation at training.
Salisbury United FC, who are situated in Adelaide and have a senior side playing in South Australia 's State League 1, were informed that Zaid could no longer play for the side.
The family had also offered to provide additional support for Zaid following the incident in training.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Salisbury United for comment.
'He cried for days, days and days,' She told Channel 9 News.
'We went through this stage of grieving... it was really sad for him.'
Channel 9 reports that Zaid had joined up with the team and had received some encouragement from the youth side's coach.
He had been recommended to get into football by Football South Australia and the club had been notified of his condition.
After several training sessions with the team, Angela stated she had also received a text from the manager saying, 'how great Zaid was'.
Despite that, the youngster is no longer playing for Salisbury, who also said they would repay Zaid's registration fees after he left the club.
Despite that, Angela states that the family are still yet to receive the $400 reimbursement, three months later.
'Realistically, the club doesn't have an understanding of what they have done to Zaid,' the boy's father, Birol Sak, said.
'He feels he has done something wrong and we are left to pick up the pieces.
'It affected his mindset.'
Football South Australia has issued a statement to Channel 9, after the broadcaster had pressed the body for comment.
Channel 9 wrote: 'Without referencing any details of what happened, it described the club's actions as exemplary.
'It was unfortunate the family were unable to work with the club to achieve the desired outcome.
Angela, though, simply wants to see her son playing sport.
'Often I hear parents say... team sport isn't right for kids like ours and I think why not,' she added.
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Taken in early May, they show trays of mushrooms being weighed on scales adjacent to the device. An expert witness, Dr Tom May, has testified with 'a high degree of confidence' that they were death caps. During cross-examination, Rogers suggested to Erin that these images depicted her 'weighing these mushrooms, these death cap mushrooms, so that you could calculate the weight required for the administration of a fatal dose for one person'. She added: 'Agree or disagree?' Erin, seemingly distressed at the question, responded: 'Disagree.' 'And the weight required for five fatal doses, for five people, agree or disagree?' Again, she responded: 'Disagree.' Whatever those images actually show, both sides accept that Erin then ended up disposing of the dehydrator at a local tip on the Wednesday after the fatal lunch. The prosecution says this was part of an effort to hide evidence. But Erin claims instead that she dumped the device following a conversation with her estranged husband Simon 48 hours earlier in which he accused her of having poisoned his parents. 'Simon seemed to be of the mind that maybe this was intentional and I just got really scared,' she told the court. 'Child Protection were coming to my house that afternoon and... I was scared they'd remove the children.' Despite her four lunch guests by this stage being seriously ill, Erin admitted that she repeatedly lied to doctors and public health investigators over the ensuing days by telling them that her beef wellingtons had not contained foraged mushrooms. 'I lied because I was afraid I would be held responsible,' was how she put it, wiping away a tear. She further claimed to have decided to conduct a series of 'factory resets' to wipe information from her various mobile telephones and other devices because: 'I knew there were photos on there of mushrooms in the dehydrator so I just panicked and didn't want them to see them.' Erin's relationship with Simon, a civil engineer she married in 2007, increasingly appears to be of central importance to the case. The couple, who had separated in 2015, appear to have enjoyed a largely cordial relationship until late 2022, when they began to argue over money and the question of who ought to pay their two children's school fees. That December, Erin had asked Don and Gail, her parents-in-law, to intervene in the dispute. However they had declined to get involved, a decision that left her deeply upset, judging by messages she posted in Facebook chat groups in which she'd portrayed her husband as sinister and manipulative. 'This family I swear to f****** God' read one such post.' 'I'm sick of this sh**, I want nothing to do with them... So f*** 'em,' went another. These and other hostile messages were presented to Erin in court this week as evidence that she'd fallen out with her in-laws prior to the fatal lunch, to which Simon was also invited but pulled out at the last moment. Perhaps the oddest of all this week's courtroom arguments involved the circumstances in which Erin invited her guests to the lunch in the first place. Ian Wilkinson, the survivor who gave evidence for the prosecution, says that Erin had told her guests she wanted to discuss a 'medical issue'. And over pudding, he recalled her telling them she'd been diagnosed with a 'very serious' and 'life-threatening' cancer. 'I didn't quite catch what she said but I thought it was... ovarian or cervical cancer,' he said. 'She was anxious about telling the kids. She was asking our advice about that.' In fact, Erin was not suffering from cancer. The prosecution claims that she faked the diagnosis in order to 'ensure and explain why her children would not be present at the lunch' and to lure the remaining guests to the event. During a deeply awkward period of cross-examination, Erin variously denied and then admitted that she'd lied to her lunch guests about the condition. She then sought to explain the behaviour by claiming she had been planning to have gastric bypass surgery, but was 'ashamed' about her weight, so did not tell anyone. 'I was really embarrassed about it, so I thought perhaps letting them believe I had some serious issue that needed treatment might mean they'd be able to help me with the logistics around the kids, and I wouldn't have to tell them the real reason,' she said. Pressed for details, she claimed to have 'an appointment [booked] in early September at the Enrich Clinic in Melbourne' for a 'pre-surgery' assessment, though couldn't remember 'the exact date' it was due to happen. That is, perhaps, not surprising, since this reporter has established that the Enrich Clinic in Melbourne turns out to be a cosmetic dermatology facility which doesn't offer gastric bypass or any other major medical procedures. Ms Rogers may or may not be aware of this pressing fact, but she has yet to raise it with the jury. So they for now remain blissfully unaware that the defendant has told yet another porkie. Perhaps the whole thing will be chewed over next week, when the cross-examination is set to continue. Perhaps the Mushroom Murder trial's focus will pivot on to other matters. Either way, we are surely due more fireworks as this case simmers to a climax.
