Family who starred in TV documentary after their daughter was killed by drug-driver are struck by tragedy again as her 21-year-old sister dies in horror car crash eight years later – after posting tragic tributes to her ‘beautiful big sister’
- READ MORE: Police ‘did not find victims of deadly car crash for 48 hours’
A young woman who died in a car crash alongside her two friends lost her own sister eight years earlier in a fatal collision caused by a drug driver.
The body of Eve Smith, 21, was found inside a white Volkswagen Tiguan that was located in trees just yards off the A48 in Cardiff in the early hours of this morning.
She died alongside Darcy Ross, 21, and Rafel Jeanne, 24. Bank worker Sophie Russon, 20, and Shane Loughlin, 32, were alive but badly injured – and may have gone undiscovered next to their dead friends for 48 hours.
Eve’s family dealt with a similar tragedy in 2015, when her sister Xana died in a car driven by Sakhawat Ali, 23, who had given her a lift home from a party while high on cocaine and cannabis and twice the drink-drive limit. The car flipped over at 60mph.
After the tragedy, her family called for tougher sentences for killer drivers and appeared in a Sky documentary about their lives with a crew that followed them around for three years.
Eve Smith with mother Emma, stepfather Tony and her brother on the Sky TV show This is Our Family, which followed their lives after the death of her sister Xana in a car crash in 2015
Eve sister Xana Doyle was killed by a drunk and drugged up driver in 2015
Following’s Xana’s death in 2015, Eve paid an emotional tribute to her saying she had ‘tragically lost my beautiful big sister’.
Eve, just 13 at the time, wrote on Facebook: ‘I never ever thought I’d have to say that or even think about it but it’s all I do. No-one will understand the agony and heartache I feel when I hear her name or see her picture.
‘It’s so hard to understand or accept that she’s gone and I’m never going to be able to see her again. A million times I’ve needed her and a million times I’ve cried.
‘If my love alone could have saved her she never would have died.’
Their step-father is Tony Borg, a former boxer who trained Welsh Olympic medal winning boxers and world champion Lee Selby.
After driver Sakhawat Ali was jailed for eight years, Xana’s mother Emma revealed her grief in a personal statement which was read out in court.
She said: ‘Watching her brother, Zaine, and sisters, Lauren and Eve, trying to continue with life in so much pain is heartbreaking. ‘
‘They not only lost their beloved sister that day but they also lost their mother, as I am not and can never be the same person again.
Eve and Xana in a family photo taken when they were younger
‘Truthfully, if I didn’t have my other children to care for I would not be here today as this pain is unbearable.
‘She is not here and she never will be again. This nightmare is real and is never going to end.’
Emma added: ‘I cannot accept that this is real, I am in a permanent daze, trying to carry on with the mundane tasks of life in an attempt to provide my children with some normality.
‘I will never see Xana get married, have children, and be successful in her chosen field of work.
‘There will always be an empty place at our table, a hole in our hearts that cannot be filled, and there won’t be one day that we don’t mourn her.
‘Each family celebration will be bitter sweet, knowing that she is not there to share the joy and be the life and soul of the party that she was.’
Eve in a Sky documentary that charted how families deal with trauma after Xana’s death
Eve died in the crash alongside Darcy Ross, 21, (left) and Rafel Jeanne, 24 (right)
Sophie Russon, 20, and Shane Loughlin, 32, were alive but badly injured – and may have gone undiscovered next to their dead friends for 48 hours
Today, Eve’s family confirmed that she had died in Friday’s crash, as have friends in several social media posts.
One said on Facebook: ‘Gutted and shocked to wake up to the news that Eve Smith and 2 others have passed away.
‘Such a kind hearted strong women, it don’t seem real, such a young age. So, so, so sad. Taken way too soon. RIP Eve.’
Another said: ‘One of the kindest girls with a heart of gold. rest in peace girl and i’m so annoyed that you got taken away from us so soon.
‘It should have never happened, but one thing for sure you will never be forgotten.’
Darcy Ross and Rafel shared a Snapchat post of themselves together on Friday night – just hours before the crash in the early hours of Saturday.
A private ambulance at the scene of an accident on the A48 to carry away the dead
Friend Alessia Scaccia wrote ‘Rip Raf, Darcy and Eve. Hoping Shane and Sophie have a fast and full recovery with the support from the hospital.’
Rea Smith said: ‘I don’t really have the words right now. Darcy Ross i’m going to miss you little gypsy girl. You were a real ray of sunshine especially on my bad days.
‘Eve Smith you were truly a beautiful young girl, who’s heart was made of gold just like your sister’s, give her a big hug for me and hold each other tight until the day we all have our turn and reunite’.
Sophie Russon’s mother Anna Certowicz has revealed that her daughter was ‘conscious some of the time’ in the car after it ran off the A48 in Cardiff and had ‘called out but no one was close enough to hear her.’
Specialist officers are supporting the families of those involved and inquiries are ongoing.
The five crash victims were returning from a night out in Cardiff when their white VW Tiguan left the road at speed and flew into trees and undergrowth. Three have died, two are seriously injured and in hospital. Police have not revealed the names of the deceased
A group of people lay floral tributes left near the scene in the St Mellons area of Cardiff today
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