A woman died after crashing into a tree while driving her friend’s car after a night of drinking and inhaling nitrous oxide.
Rhianne Nicholas, 26, lost control of the red Vauxhall Adam before mounting a kerb and crossing the carriageway, eventually ploughing into the tree.
She’d left the house of a friend, Jodie Maher, during the early hours of the morning and was attempting to drive home at the time of the crash.
Rhianne, a mum-of-one, had been planning to stay over with Jodie after they enjoyed a night out together in Bridgend, Wales, on August 29 last year, but she changed her mind after her friend went to bed.
The pair had been drinking and drove back to the house to eat and inhale some nitrous oxide from balloons, Jodie told an inquest into the death.
Rhianne, who lived in Beddau, was driving on the A4119 near Tonypandy at around 3.45am when she crashed.
Police statements said there was no sign of emergency braking and the car had been travelling at 62mph but Rhianne had not been wearing a seatbelt.
A post-mortem revealed she had a blood alcohol level of 109mg per 100ml of blood – above the legal driving limit of 80mg.
She suffered blunt impact to the chest, left-sided rib fractures, and spinal injuries.
PS Heath Lewis, one of the first officers on the scene, said they found Rhianne ‘curled in the foetal position’ on the passenger seat wearing her pyjamas.
‘I reached to feel for a pulse and could not feel one,’ he said. ‘My colleagues and I attempted to get the female out of the vehicle but there was significant damage to the passenger compartment and we were not able to. The fire service arrived shortly afterwards and were able to begin CPR.’
Paramedics took over efforts to save the woman’s live but she was pronounced dead.
Jodie said: ‘Rhianne had taken my car before without asking. We had fallen out over it in the past but I thought after that she wasn’t going to do it again.
‘We were both in really good spirits that night and had been laughing and joking the whole time.
‘I had no idea what had happened until I was woken up by police at 6.30am to the news of the crash.
‘The whole incident has left me devastated and gutted. I still can’t believe that it is real. I’m devastated by the loss of my friend. My world has fallen apart.’
A statement on behalf of Ms Nicholas’ brother, Scott Nicholas, said: ‘My parents died in 2018 and this was heartbreaking for us all but Rhianne especially.
‘As a family we are heartbroken by the death of Rhianne. It feels so unreal. She leaves behind her five-year-old daughter. We will tell her about her mum and make sure she is looked after.
‘Rhianne enjoyed life to the full. She always made sure others were okay and put other people first.
‘We can never make sense of what has happened but, through her daughter, Rhianne will live on.’
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