Sunday People | January 18, 2004

A NEW witness to Princess Diana’s death smash has come forward - and says her limo WAS forced to crash by a white Fiat.

Moroccan beauty Souad Mouffakir, 33, kept silent for six years about what she saw because she feared she would be killed.

But last week she gave her startling evidence to The People after her husband Mohamed Medjahdi - who was driving in front of Diana’s black Mercedes in a Paris underpass - claimed there was NO mystery Fiat. Souad said:

I saw through the back window a Fiat Uno driving very fast up to us in the outside lane. But rather than hurtle past, it slowed down so we were side by side.

It was very strange behaviour and I got frightened. The white car was only centimetres from ours. I stared over to the driver and I will never forget him.

He had a very strange expression like his mind was thinking about something else. His whole manner was odd. It troubled me.

He was Mediterranean, short because his head was only just above the steering wheel. His skin was tanned and his hair was very dark brown and wiry.

He was in his mid-thirties. In the back seat was a huge alsatian. I became very scared, I thought he was a madman and I told Mohamed to speed away. We did that and a moment later we heard the screech of tyres.

I looked round and saw a black Mercedes sliding out of control at 45 degrees, coming straight at us. I saw the car impact into the pillar. I did not realise that I had just seen the crash that killed Diana. I saw the chauffeur thrown forward into the steering wheel. I knew he had been killed immediately.

I wake thinking about it. The nightmares are terrible. I looked for the Fiat but it had disappeared. The Mercedes must have gone out of control trying to avoid it.

Souad contacted police next day and she and Mohamed, 29, were quizzed but neither mentioned the Fiat because, she says, they were too scared.

But Souad, who split with forklift truck driver Mohamed three years ago, agreed to speak to The People after he claimed in British and French newspapers last week that there was NO Fiat.

At her home in a northern suburb of Paris, she said: “I have kept my silence for over six years but I am sick Mohamed lied.

“I was convinced what I saw would lead me to being killed. But anyone who tries to kill me now will have to come out of hiding to do it.

“I am furious Mohamed did not tell the whole truth. Diana was a beautiful woman who did so much good. I owe it to her and the people who loved her.”

Souad’s dramatic claims were backed by two close friends.

Farida Azzouz, 31, said: “Souad told me just after it happened that she had seen a white Fiat but she hadn’t told the police about it. She was worried her life would be in danger.”

Another friend, Bouchra Zahdane, 24, said: “I can confirm they witnessed the crash but they kept very quiet about the exact details of it.”

Souad’s evidence will be keenly studied by British police who have been asked by Royal coroner Dr Michael Burgess to investigate the deaths of Diana and her lover Dodi Fayed.

The People has made no payment to Souad.