Ukrainian heiress bursts into tears as she is detained for two months to stop her fleeing the country after footage showed her 'racing another car' before killing five in horror crash
The Ukrainian heiress who killed five and injured six in a horror crash was tonight detained for two months to stop her fleeing the country before her trial.
Alyona Zaitseva, 20, burst into tears as she was detained despite an extraordinary appeal to allow her multi-millionaire father to compensate her victims and their families.
Shocking video footage shows the sickening moment her Lexus ploughed into a crowd after she drove through a red light and hit another vehicle at 63mph in central Kharkiv.
The glamorous oligarch's daughter was seen in tears alone in the courtroom cage at the start of a legal process which could see her jailed for a maximum ten years after a crash which left a street in the Ukrainian city looking like a 'war zone' with bodies strewn on a pavement.
In an extraordinary message from the dock to the bereaved and injured, the weeping heiress said: 'I am sorry that this situation happened and people suffered.
'This is the only that truly concerns me now. I am hoping that families will allow my parents to help them because this is the worst that could happen. All my thoughts are about it.'
Her lawyer Yulia Kozyr - famous for representing prominent people accused of corruption in Kharkiv - had sought house arrest for her.
But a judge ruled that she must remain in a detention prison for two months pending a criminal investigation into alleged dangerous driving causing deaths and injuries.
The court was told that a urine test revealed she had taken cannabis.
But a blood test showed her clear of alcohol and drugs so further analysis was ordered.
Ms Zaitseva has declined so far to give testimony on the horrific accident, citing the 63rd article of the Ukrainian constitution, permitting her not to incriminate herself.
Earlier a video appeared to show her smirking in court flanked by policemen.
Separate footage suggests she had been racing another car moments before colliding with a VW Touareg, then spun out of control and overturned, ramming into the pedestrians.
The latest new video from Vecherny Kharkiv newspaper shows how victims were killed and then thrown around 70ft along the pavement by the force of the impact.
A local MP claimed she had been driving at more than 60mph in her Lexus in an area with a maximum limit of 35 mph, and revealed she had eight previous motoring fines, including four for speeding, two this year.
Anton Gerashchenko, also an advisor to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, said: 'We had a blood and urine test, and opiates were found.
'This will be a significant factor that will influence the court's decisions.
'There will be a second examination. She could either smoke marijuana, or use something else.
'This factor will complicate the protection of the girl.'
He has already publicly called for her to be jailed and warned that her wealthy and powerful family could exert influence to pin the blame elsewhere.
Ahead of the court case, spokesman for the regional prosecutor also expressed the fear that the family could use its wealth to leave Ukraine if the third year sociology student was freed ahead of trial.
'First of all, this is a case of major public attention for our city,' said Vita Dubovik.
'Secondly, (we have to consider) the number of victims. And thirdly, we are fully aware of what kind of family this is. They have all the means to just disappear from the country.'
Among the dead are a mother and daughter Alla Sokol, 46, and Anastasiya Sokol, 19, who will be buried on Saturday.
Pregnant Zhanna Vlasenko, 30, has suffered 'serious' head injuries and is in a 'hard but stable' condition. Her baby is expected to survive, said doctors.
Killed in the crash was Alexander Evteev, 27, from Kharkiv, husband of injured Oksana, 27. She is in a 'grave' condition as is her sister Diana, 20.
Both underwent major surgery overnight for head, chest and abdominal injuries.
A woman who died was named as Nina Kobiseva, 28, from Tishenovka village in Kharkiv region, and another fatality was named as Elena Usmanova.
Yury Neudachin, 29, from Kharkiv, was in a 'grave condition', and Oksana Nesterenko, 36, was also in intensive care.
Anna Komar, 25, from Kremenchug, was in a stable condition. Irina Lodyanaya, deputy doctor in chief of Kharkiv Regional Clinical Hospital, said pregnant Ms Vlasenko is 'in a grave but stable condition.
'There is no threat to the baby. The baby is stable, the mother is in medical coma but it won't hurt her baby. We need to keep watching.'
Ms Zaitseva's father Vasily Zaitsev did not mention the victims in his only comment on the crash caused by what eye witnesses saw as his daughter's reckless driving.
He also sought to pin blame on the VW Touareg that Ms Zaitseva hit before her car careered into people waiting at a pedestrian crossing, even though footage appears to show the driver of this car acting correctly after moving forward on a green light at a junction.
'It is a tragedy for our family,' he said. 'She had been driving for two years and never had any violations' - a claim contradicted by a local MP who is also an Interior Ministry advisor.
'The girl was sober. There was another girl, her friend.'
Not mentioning those killed or wounded, he said: 'My child has not eaten for 24 hours.
'They did not let us see her, she was locked in jail immediately.'
'She was hit, do you understand? Her car was completely destroyed. The car was moving after the hit.
'How was that Touareg driving - it is not clear why it hit her this way?'
Gerashchenko, revealed: 'During last two years the Lexus driver has been caught eight times by Kharkiv traffic patrol for violating traffic rules.'
This involved speeding, jumping red lights, and violating parking rules, he said.
But the maximum she was fined for these transgressions was £14.
, и Миша крест на пузе незнаком с Зайцем
