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THE FAMILY OF a young woman who sustained serious injuries while walking home to her student accommodation in Maynooth, Co Kildare have thanked their local community and the general public for their continued support at a “tough and trying” time.
18-year-old Kym Owens was found at Moyglare Abbey on 20 November, having travelled on the A2B bus service from her family home in Monaghan. She suffered a broken nose, fractured eye sockets, a dislocated jaw as well as a number of broken teeth but gardaí have not established how she sustained the injuries.
It was initially believed the young woman had been assaulted, but gardaí are also exploring the possibility that she may have fallen or been struck by a vehicle.
Thomas McNee, Kym’s uncle, told RTÉ’s Today with Seán O’Rourke that her parents are keeping a bedside vigil with her every day. Staff at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, where the 18-year-old remains in an induced coma, are “doing everything they can for her”, he said.
“She was fun and bubbly, and loved her sport – she played Gaelic football for the Blaney Faughs,” McNee said of his niece, adding that she was “the baby” of the family.
She was just weeks into her college education and was “settling in nicely” when she sustained her horrific injuries.
Appeal
“You never expect it to come to your own door,” he told reporter Brian O’Connell at a fundraising concert in Kym’s home town of Castleblaney last night. “It’s been very tough and trying on the family.”
Their lives have just been turned upside down in a heartbeat.
McNee said “Christmas was cancelled” this year in the Owens house.
He said the family wished to express their “sincerest and deepest thank you” to people who sent well wishes and to everyone who contributed to the recovery fund.
Kym’s uncle also appealed for anyone with any information about what happened to his niece to contact gardaí, no matter how small the detail.
“I would say examine your conscience – that could be your daughter or sister lying in that hospital bed. Take the leap of faith and go to the gardaí and tell them anything you know.”
Gardaí are asking anyone who was in the Moyglare Abbey area on 20 November between 7pm and 9pm, or anyone who believes they have information that could help the investigation, to contact them.
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This is the strangest story. Poor girl. Famiy muat be frantic with worry. And there seems to be no clue at all as to the cause??
@Dearbhla Russell: You’d think they’d know the difference between a beating, fall and hit & run. Surely with a hit & run she’d have injuries elsewhere than just her head. Hard to imagine all that damage being done from a single fall also. Tis strange indeed.
@Aaron Did you see it once on CSI?
@Aaron Roche: It’s possible that report is only highlighting her head injuries as they’re most serious.
@Aaron Roche: Apparently it was one blunt force trauma that did all the damage. That is why its so hard to tell one way or another.
I was listening to a former homicide police chief on a Podcast called Detective and he recounted a case where a guy had died on his feet, fallen forward, SMASHED his face into the ground that cause such injuries that the first police on the scene believed he’d been brutally murdered.
Turned out he’d OD’s and keeled over but his face took such a hit it there was blood EVERYWHERE.
Whilst I’m not attempting to suggest anything like this happened here, just that sometimes it can be difficult to recognise just how much damage can be sustained in a fall if you are unable to do anything to help yourself.
My friend has epilepsy, once on the way to school he had seizure very bad facial injuries due to hitting a wall we believe, hands had cuts. Body was OK due to wereing his coat. if you didn’t know he had epilepsy you think he been attacked.
Poor girl could of have had a seizure, you can be healthy and well in this can come if stressed, worried.
Was just thinking seizures.
If it was an assault then there’s an extremely dangerous psychopath out there somewhere on the loose.
I hope kym makes a full recovery – it must be very worrying for her family as kym has been in an induced coma for a long time – hopefully when she is woke up she will be able to remember something.
Didn’t realise Ireland has such a strong force of undercover detectives! Hope the gardai are reading these comments! #mythbusted
No sarcasm intended!
If it wasnt a third party could it have been that she fell off a wall head first? Just remember seeing large pillars in the estate entrance she lived in. Just a thought. Hope her recovery will go well when she comes out of the induced coma.
Poor Kym and her family,
I hope she comes out of the coma but my heart also breaks for her if/when she does – I’ve been there (in an induced coma for a month in which in the end they couldn’t take me out of) and while I was in the coma, that was when my loved ones went through a horrific ordeal, but when I came out of it, that’s when my horrific ordeal began. So I really feel for kym when she wakes up, because that’s when her horrific ordeal begins. You wouldn’t believe how hard it is, no matter how young you are, after just a month in a coma – you have to learn to stand up, walk, talk, eat again. Not to mention how hard she will find life following this awful incident (mine was due to illness not an assault or incident) so I have huge empathy for what she has to deal with when she comes round- building herself up physically and going through so much suffering emotionally socially and psychologically. Poor girl and her poor family. It’s easy to see how their whole lives have been turned upside down. Willing Kym to pull through and to heal in every way from this awfully tragic incident.
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