Qatar crash death: Family says collecting evidence 'like jigsaw'

Rafaelle Tsakanika, 21, from Cambridge, was killed in a two-car crash near the Qatari capital in 2019

Trying to establish how a woman died in a crash in Qatar was "like a jigsaw", her stepfather who worked on World Cup stadiums told an inquest in Britain.

Rafaelle Tsakanika, 21, of Cambridge, died in a hit-and-run collision near Doha on 30 March 2019.

Her stepfather Donal Sullivan said that after she did not return home they were "pushed around from pillar to post" by police as they tried to find her.

Coroner Simon Milburn adjourned the inquest to consider his conclusions.

Construction specialist Mr Sullivan told the hearing, in Huntingdon, in Cambridgeshire, that he had been involved in working on four or five of the new football stadiums.

He said when Ms Tsakanika, known as Raffy, did not return home that day, they "knew something was wrong".

After failing to get details from Qatari police, the family decided to go to a hospital where its admittance book showed "one entry that was unknown and we felt we had to go and explore that".

Ms Tsakanika has been described as a "popular, caring, vivacious and fun-loving young woman" by her family

Mr Sullivan said they were "directed to the morgue" and there was a "picture of Raffy's passport lying in front of us".

He said that a worker "gestured to one of the drawers" and they identified Ms Tsakanika.

"This is like a jigsaw - we're piecing bits together as we go," Mr Sullivan told the inquest.

He said police took them to the scene of the crash, and they were shown the car that Ms Tsakanika had been in at the police compound, adding that they were not allowed to take photos.

He said they brought her body back to the UK, adding: "At one point she was our only evidence - we didn't know what happened and we didn't trust anybody."

In April 2019, a UK post-mortem examination found Ms Tsakanika died of traumatic head and abdominal injuries.

The mother of Harry Dunn (second left) - who was killed in a crash outside a US military base in Northamptonshire in 2019 - and family spokesman Radd Seiger (left) attended the inquest alongside Ms Tsakanika's mother (second right) and stepfather Donal Sullivan (right)

Ms Tsakanika's mother, Jo Sullivan, said her daughter was "adored by everybody".

Court documents, seen by the Press Association news agency, showed that teacher Mubarak Al Hajri, then aged 46, was convicted in Qatari courts of causing Ms Tsakanika's death, causing serious injuries to her friend, driving in a way that endangered lives, fleeing the scene of an accident, and speeding.

He was sentenced to two months in prison and ordered to pay compensation to Ms Tsakanika's family.

'118mph'

In witness evidence from Qatar that was read to the inquest, it was heard that Al Hajri had claimed he was driving back towards Doha and his wife "phoned, telling me my son lacked oxygen and she didn't know how to act".

He claimed he "had not bumped into" another vehicle but "just hit the barriers", and said he did not stop at the scene as it was the "first accident... I feared the procedures".

Forensic collision investigator Alex Routt had been asked by the Cambridgeshire coroner to examine the available evidence.

He told the inquest the crash was estimated to have happened at 00:10.

A speed camera clocked Al Hajri's car at 191km/h (118mph) at 00:06, and a second camera clocked it at 181km/h (112mph) six minutes later.

He said he had been told that Al Hajri's vehicle appeared damaged in the second speed camera photo, but added: "I haven't seen those photographs and they haven't been disclosed."

He agreed with Ms Tsakanika's family barrister's suggestion that his analysis was hindered by the lack of information from the Qatari authorities.