My daughter was killed in Cardiff horror crash… nothing will be the same without her, Eve Smith’s dad reveals
THE father of one of the three victims of a car crash in Cardiff has said “nothing will be the same” after his daughter’s death.
Rafel Jeanne, 24, and pals Eve Smith and Darcy Ross, both 21, died when their white VW Tiguan crashed near Newport, Wales in the early hours of Saturday.
Sophie Russon, 20, and Shane Loughlin, 32, were discovered alive inside the wreck 48 hours later off the A48 in St Mellons – they remain in a critical condition in hospital.
Ms Smith’s father Everton Smith spoke in front of floral tributes laid for his daughter in Newport’s Commercial Street on Thursday, the BBC reported.
He said his daughter was “everything a father could wish for”.
Mr Smith said: “It’s going to change my life, I don’t know how much it will.
“Nothing will be the same. I just need her here to get me through this. This is an impossible situation.”
Eve’s death comes eight years after her sister Xana Doyle, 19, was killed in a car crash.
The driver, who was twice the drink-drive limit, was prosecuted and Ms Smith took part in a Sky TV documentary about the incident and campaigned for tougher sentences.”
This is like nothing anyone could expect to go through, it’s like deja vu,” Mr Smith said.
He said he was unsurprised about the floral tributes left for Ms Smith as there was “something special” about his daughter.
It comes as the heartbroken ex-girlfriend of Rafel Jeanne shared a video of their last embrace – telling him “R.I.P. my friend”.
She captioned the CCTV video: “The night before you lost your life. I will forever cherish that hug. R.I.P my friend.”
Friends Sophie, Eve, and Darcy had been on a night out at the Muffler bar and club in Maeglas, Newport, on Friday evening.
Having arrived by car at around 11pm, it was here the trio met Shane and Rafel, whom the girls had never met before.
They are then thought to have headed to Shane’s family caravan in Trecco Bay, Porthcawl – around 36 miles from Newport.
Darcy had posted photos of her and Rafel partying that night to Snapchat.
But haunting CCTV shows the group’s car around 2am in the Llanedeyrn area of Cardiff where they reportedly dropped off an unnamed man.
Later that night their car came off a roundabout and ploughed into woods.
The group may have travelled around 85 miles in total that night.
The wreckage of the deadly crash was discovered by Matthew Pace, 45, and his son Lewis – who was close friends with Rafel – just after midnight on Monday.
Alongside the dead, they discovered bank worker Sophie hanging suspended in wreckage.
Her mum said she is “unrecognisable” from injuries – a bleed on the brain and fractured skull – and is under sedation after panic attacks in hospital.
South Wales Police said they are still working to “piece together” what happened.
Specialist officers are supporting the families of those involved and enquiries are ongoing.
Anyone with any information is asked to call police on 101, or send a direct message on social media, quoting 2300071791.