One week after teenage student Kym Owens was violently assaulted in Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Gardaí are no closer to identifying her attacker.
As investigators returned to the scene one week after the horrifying incident, The Bachelor of Arts student from Castleblayney in Co Monaghan remains in “serious” but stable condition in the intensive care unit of Connolly Hospital in Dublin, where she is in an induced coma and being treated for injuries that include broken eye sockets, a broken nose and a broken jaw.
The 18-year-old university student lost several teeth in the attack, which occurred at approximately 8.30pm last Sunday after she got off a bus near her digs in the Moyglare Abbey, Co. Kildare. She was discovered lying unconscious on a footpath and received medical assistance at the scene before emergency services arrived.
Gardaí say she was not sexually assaulted and none of her belongings appear to have been stolen.
As well as drafting in more officers to step up patrols and join the hunt for the attacker, Gardaí have issued a renewed appeal for information, returning to the scene last night with sniffer dogs and locals who discovered Ms Owens the night she was attacked.
Foggy conditions on the night are hampering efforts to track down the culprit using CCTV footage.
Meanwhile Kym’s father Ray told The Sunday World that she is “doing as well as she can”. A source also told the newspaper that Gardaí are hoping she might hold the key to identifying her attacker:
“The primary concern is that Kym recovers and investigators will exercise great patience before reaching the stage where they will try and speak with her.”
“She may have information that could be crucial to identifying the person who did this to her.”
Gardai are appealing in particular to any person on the bus. any person in the vicinity of Maynooth Village/Moyglare Abbey Estate between 7pm and 9pm on Sunday night or any person who noticed anything unusual, in particular any person with staining on their clothes or perhaps in an agitated state, to contact them at Leixlip Garda Station on 01 6667800, The Garda Confidential Line, 1800 666111 or any Garda station.
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