By Cormac O’Keeffe
Gardaí are trying to identify everyone who travelled on the same bus as a college student subjected to a horrific attack as she walked to her digs in Maynooth last Sunday.
Kym Owens, aged 18, suffered horrific head injuries in a ferocious attack that has left her in a serious condition at the intensive care unit of Blanchardstown Hospital, where her parents are keeping vigil.
Investigating gardaí said it was “very possible” that her attacker had been on the same bus, but are not ruling out other possibilities.
Ms Owens left her home in Castleblaney, Co Monaghan, and boarded the A2B bus at around 6.15pm, arriving in Maynooth two hours later.
She walked 1km to Moyglare Abbey Estate, where she was attacked sometime between 8.15pm and 8.40pm.
“She was within 500m of her digs when she was seriously assaulted and left unconscious on the footpath,” said Supt Gerry Wall, from Leixlip Garda Station.
He said Ms Owens, a first-year student of arts at Maynooth University, suffered “extensive head injuries”.
Supt Wall said the bus started its journey at Monaghan, stopping at Carrickmacross and Castleblaney and going on to Ardee and Slane, before reaching Maynooth.
He appealed to anyone on that bus, who got on or off and who got off at Maynooth to contact gardaí.
He said it was “very, very possible” the attacker was on the bus, but stressed it was not the only avenue they were exploring. He asked people in the estate to come forward if they saw anything or anyone suspicious.
“The perpetrator or perpetrators may well have been in a very agitated state,” Supt Wall said in his appeal. “They may have had marks on their clothing, marks on their body. Did you meet anybody on Sunday night that fits that description?”
He said Myglore Abbey Estate was a “safe area, a respectable area”.
Asked was this a random attack, he said: “Random? Yes, it hasn’t happened, that we know of, in recent times or before, in this area. As I say, a very safe place to live.”
Gardaí have asked anyone with information to talk to them at Leixlip Station on 01 666 7800 or on the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111.
This article first appeared in the Irish Examiner.
