A POLICE interview in which a girl describes the death crash which killed Newport woman Xana Doyle was played to a court earlier today.

The girl, 15, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sitting in the front seat on a Toyota Avensis which crashed on Usk Way on January 9, killing 19-year-old Xana.

The car’s driver, Sakhawat Ali, 23, of Harrow Road, Newport, was twice over the drink drive limit and had taken cocaine shortly before the accident. He has already admitted causing death by dangerous driving and aggravated vehicle taking.

His cousin, Shabaz Ali, 21, of Ribble Square, Newport, has admitted aggravated allowing to be carried involving a fatal accident.

Cardiff Crown Court was played an interview from January 16 as part of a Newton hearing, which will be used by Judge Neil Bidder to determine the extent to which a handbrake being pulled up contributed to the crash.

In the police interview it is clear that the girl has a large cut to her head, sustained in the accident.

She told a police officer how Shabaz Ali was persistently pulling up the car’s handbrake as the group made their way through Newport after meeting at a party in Bettws on January 8.

At the start of the journey, she was sitting in the passenger seats at the back of the car but at Sakhawat Ali’s request swapped to the one in the front in an attempt to stop his cousin, who had been sitting there, using the handbrake.

The girl said there was no difficulty in swapping seats and that Miss Doyle was happy in the back: "There was no arguments about it. She was happy where she was."

Later, she said Shabaz Ali had looked to pull up the handbrake as they drove by the Newport Bridge, again near the Millennium Bridge and then, with fatal consequences, near Castle Bingo.

In the video, she said: "[Shabaz Ali] was pulling up the handbrake. We have looked back and he has been trying to still pull up the handbrake and we have crashed because he wasn't listening."

She described to a police officer how she lost consciously briefly in the aftermath of the crash, in which the car flipped over then awoke to see one of the two men “looking through her”.

Later, she said she thought she had sustained a large bruise on her leg by either one or both of the men clambering over her to get out the car because they thought she was dead.

Prosecutor Matthew Cobbe said both defendants came away from the crash “remarkably unscathed” and that the driver had been “undoubtedly showing off” by driving at excessive speed. He added it had “undoubtedly contributed to the tragedy that was to happen.”

When questioned by police, Ali had said he thought he was driving between 40 to 50mph; but Mr Cobbe said analysis showed the crash happened at about 60mph. The speed limit on Usk Way is 30mph.

The pair will be sentenced on Wednesday.