Man charged for illegal driving as part of probe into horror crash
Man, 28, charged for illegal driving as part of probe into horror crash which killed three friends after night out and took police 46 hours to find the wreckage
- Rafel Jeanne, 24, Eve Smith, 21, and Darcy Ross, 21, were killed in crash in March
- Joel Samuel Lia, 28, has been charged with driving without licence or insurance
- Alleged offences took place shortly before the crash, but are not connected to it
A man has been charged with illegal driving after three people were killed in a car crash tragedy after a night out and left in the wreckage for two days.
Driver Rafel Jeanne, 24, and his passengers Eve Smith and Darcy Ross, both 21, were all killed in the crash near the St Mellons area of Cardiff four months ago.
Fellow passengers Shane Loughlin, 32, and Sophie Russon, 20, were critically injured but pulled alive from the wreckage about 46 hours after the incident.
The five friends had been visiting Porthcawl before returning in a Volkswagen Tiguan when the crash happened on the A48(M) on March 4 at 2.03am. The group were discovered on the morning of March 6, around 46 hours after the crash happened.
Now, Joel Samuel Lia, 28, of Rumney in Cardiff, will appear at Cardiff Magistrates’ Court tomorrow after being charged with driving without a licence or insurance in Porthcawl on March 4. Lia was not in the car at the time of the collision.
Joel Samuel Lia, 28, of Rumney in Cardiff, will appear at Cardiff Magistrates’ Court tomorrow after being charged with driving without a licence or insurance in Porthcawl on March 4
Eve Smith, 21, was one the three people who died in the crash in March 6 in St Mellons, Cardiff
Rafel Jeanne (left), 24, and Darcy Ross (right), 21, were also killed in the crash in Cardiff
The alleged offences took place shortly before, but are not connected to, the fatal crash that happened on the A48(M) – and involve the same car.
A South Wales Police spokesman told MailOnline: ‘A 28-year-old man will appear in court as part of an investigation into a fatal road traffic collision which happened on the A48 in the St Mellons area of Cardiff on Saturday 4th March.
Joel Samuel Lia, of Rumney, will appear at Cardiff Magistrates Court on July 26 charged with driving without a licence or insurance in Porthcawl on March 4.
‘The offences are not connected to the fatal collision which happened at 2.03am on Saturday, March 4 which resulted in the deaths of the driver Rafel Jeanne and passengers Darcy Ross and Eve Smith.
Sophie Russon, 20, was wounded in the crash in March near Cardiff but has survived
Shane Loughlin, 32, was also wounded in the incident near Cardiff but has also survived
A vehicle is recovered and moved under a cover from the A48 near Cardiff on March 6
‘The offences were identified by officers investigating the fatal collision and involves the same vehicle.’
The length of time taken by Gwent Police and South Wales Police to find the group, who were reported missing by family members, is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
The group had been on a night out to The Muffler social club in Maesglas, Newport, on March 3.
They had then travelled in a Tiguan just under 40 miles to the Trecco Bay caravan park in Porthcawl where they are said to have spent some time in one of the caravans on site.
Relatives of the friends previously shared this CCTV image of the car they were travelling in
The scene in the St Mellons area of Cardiff as police investigated the crash in March
Floral tributes left on March 8 near the scene of the incident on the A48 in a Cardiff suburb
A noise complaint was made to the park’s security lodge about the group, it is understood.
The group left the site a short time later and were last seen at about 2am in the Pentwyn area of Cardiff dropping off a sixth member of their group.
According to Gwent Police, the first missing person report was made at 7.34pm on the Saturday. The force did not issue a public missing person appeal until 11pm on Sunday.
The car was spotted just after midnight on the Monday morning having veered off a slip road approaching a roundabout and come to rest in a small copse of trees, shielded from the view of other motorists, nearby houses and a busy garden centre.
References
- ^ Mark Duell (www.dailymail.co.uk)