The final moments spent with his five friends before a car accident in Cardiff, Wales, that left three people dead and two others injured have been made public by a sixth passenger.
Last Saturday’s A48(M) collision near the St Mellons region of Cardiff claimed the lives of Eve Smith, Darcy Ross, and Rafel Jeanne, all of whom were 21 years old.
Shane Loughlin, 32, and Sophie Russon, 20 respectively, are currently battling for their life at the University Hospital of Wales in the nation’s capital.
The group of friends had been enjoying a night out at the Mufflet nightclub in Newport when their car crashed into a woodland in the early hours.
Police have been using CCTV and number plate recognition cameras to understand what happened, believing just their car was involved.
But also aboard the white Volkswagen Tiguan was Joel Lia, 27, who was dropped off only hours before the incident.
Police had been reportedly searching for the sixth rider but Joel is now ‘fully cooperating’ with the force, a source has said.
The insider said: ‘He has been cooperating fully with the officers in the case and is understandably very upset by the events of that night.’
Joel left the car at around 2am in nearby Pentwyn, around two miles from the tragedy.
Police understand that he was with Rafel and Shane as they met up with Eve, Darcy and Sophie in the social club.
Rafel was a ‘very close friend’ of Joel and had gone out together the night before.
They all then hopped into their Volkswagen and drove around 38 miles to Porthcawl where Shane had a caravan in the Trecco Bay camp.
An alleged noise complaint was registered in the area but police do not believe it ‘played any major part’ in the incident.
Joel asked his friends to give him a lift to his home before they filled up their tank and headed to Newport to drop the three women home.
It would take 46 hours for the five to be discovered in their overturned car.
Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hoborough of Gwent Police said: ‘This is an extremely sad situation, and our thoughts are with the families and friends of each of the young people involved.
‘We will continue to support the investigation and would ask members of the public to refrain from speculation during this period.’
Assistant Chief Constable Jason Davies of South Wales Police added: ‘Our thoughts continue to be with the families and all those affected by this tragic incident.
‘Specialist officers are carrying out a detailed investigation to piece together what has happened.’