John Goss acts for family in inquest arising from death in Qatar

John was instructed, on a pro bono basis, for the family of Raffy Tsakanika, a 21-year-old woman who died on 30 March 2019 in Qatar following a road traffic collision at an inquest in Huntingdon on 21 November and 7 December 2022.

Following her death, the family struggled to obtain information from the Qatari authorities. From the limited material provided, the Coroner found that a vehicle travelling at very high speed attempted to overtake the vehicle in which Raffy was a passenger, even though the latter vehicle was in the outside lane. It clipped Raffy’s vehicle, sending it out of control and across the full width of the four-lane carriageway. The Coroner accepted the evidence of a forensic collision investigator that it was likely that Raffy’s vehicle collided with the crash barrier and then rolled. Raffy – whom the Coroner found was wearing her seatbelt – suffered injuries that would have killed her virtually instantaneously.

The Coroner returned a conclusion of road traffic collision, appending a short narrative. He felt unable to return an unlawful killing conclusion in the absence of clear evidence about what manoeuvre caused the collision, but noted that ‘The fact that the fullest information was not available is entirely due to the limited assistance offered by the Qatari authorities’.

Radd Seiger, advisor and spokesperson for Raffy’s family, said:

“With little evidence or information to go on, Raffy’s family were fortunate to instruct John Goss to represent them at several pre-inquest reviews and the recently held inquest itself in Huntingdon on 21 November.  This was a complex, high profile and highly unusual case from the outset and John’s caring and sympathetic approach to his clients, expert advice from the start, forensic approach to trying to build a picture of what happened to Raffy, and supreme advocacy, examination of the expert evidence and closing submissions, were so very much appreciated by Raffy’s family.”

John has extensive experience in a wide variety of inquests and public inquiries, in particular for police forces and Government departments.

This case was reported by the BBC, click here to read more.

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Related barristers

John Goss

Call 2015

Related areas

Inquests

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