THOUSANDS OF EURO have been donated to help Monaghan teenager Kym Owens with her recovery after she suffered serious injuries walking home to her student digs.
The 18-year-old is still in intensive care as a result of injuries she received walking through Moyglare Abbey in Maynooth, Kildare last month.
Gardaí are investigating a number of lines of inquiry. However, friends and family of Owens have started fundraising in her name in a bid to help her recovery.
So far, a number of efforts have resulted in over €20,000 being raised to aid her recovery.
The 18-year-old suffered a broken nose, fractured eye sockets, a dislocated jaw as well as a number of broken teeth.
Gardaí have not ruled out that a fall may have caused her injuries. However, they originally believed Owens was the victim of a violent assault.
Donations have been collected using a number of different methods including online donations and charity nights held by The Roost Pub in Maynooth and other events based in Monaghan.
The Kym Owens Recovery Fund said it is a local committee ”formed to raise funds to aid Kym’s long road to recovery and we are keeping close contact with her family”.
Kevin Rooney, who started the group, said: “We know we speak for everyone in Castleblayney when we say our thoughts and prayers are with Kym and her family, but we want to reach out to the entire nation in our appeal, as we know this has touched the hearts of everyone.
“We will be organising a series of funding events over the coming weeks and appreciate donations in the form of spot prizes.”
Superintendent Gerry Wall of Leixlip garda station said Kym travelled on the A2B bus service starting out in Monaghan town on Sunday 20 November. The bus travelled to Carrickmacross and into Castleblayney arriving there around 6.15pm. The bus arrived in Maynooth at around 8.15pm.
Speaking in the aftermath of the assault, Wall said:
My appeal here today, and An Garda Siochána’s appeal, is for witnessses to come forward – people who may have been on the bus, who travelled on the bus. Did you get on or off that bus? Did you arrive in the bus in Maynooth that evening?
Any information, however trivial it may seem, should be given to gardaí, Wall said.
He gave a description of the student as being 5′ 3″ in height with long brown hair. On the night in question she was wearing a dark green coat with a hood. She had a red hoodie under the coat, and was wearing black jeans and white Converse runners.
She was carrying a distinctive green and yellow bag at the time of the incident.
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