An online fund established to help assault victim Alanna Quinn Idris, and a young man stabbed in the same attack, has raised over €70,000, including one donation of €5,000. The Garda investigation into the attack in west Dublin last week has intensified in recent days.
Ms Quinn Idris (17), and the teenager she was with who suffered knife wounds, have been interviewed as victims by gardaí, who are hopeful the information provided will be crucial to solving the attack in Ballyfermot last Thursday, December 30th.
Detectives now believe they have identified members of the gang behind the assault, with Ms Quinn Idris making a statement to gardaí after being released from hospital on Tuesday. She said she had been harassed by a group of young males over a period of years .
Garda sources said arrests in the case were expected in coming days after more pieces of evidence had been reviewed, including CCTV and witness statements taken by members of the investigation team.
A GoFundMe page established to raise money for Ms Quinn Idris, who suffered serious head injuries, and her friend had received over 3,000 donations by Wednesday night, with over €73,000 donated.
Jamie Quinn, the mother of the injured girl, said her family was overwhelmed by the generosity of people who had donated. She added she had initially been unsure if the family should allow the page be established but had since been taken aback by the level of support from the general public.
Ms Quinn said given what had happened to her daughter, she would fear for the safety of her children in the future and was now considering leaving Ballyfermot in favour of a “fresh start” somewhere else.
“We as a family have unfortunately decided that relocating to a different area might be the best option for us. We will feel safer,” she said. “It breaks my heart to potentially leave our home and the area I have lived in all my life. But I will never be comfortable letting my children out to socialise in this area again and we cannot live like that.”
The two teenagers were badly beaten by a group of youths armed with a hurley stick, saddle and seat-post and a knife, after they alighted a bus on Ballyfermot Road, close to Ballyfermot Civic Centre, at about 9.30pm last Thursday.
While the male teenager Ms Quinn Idris was with tried to protect her and a local man also intervened, the gang involved inflicted serious injuries. Ms Idris Quinn suffered a ruptured eyeball as well as broken bones in her cheek and eye socket and a broken tooth.
Her friend suffered knife wounds in the attack and both teenagers were taken to St James’s Hospital for treatment. Ms Quinn Idris was then transferred to the Dublin Eye and Ear Hospital, Dublin 2, where surgery was performed on her eye, though still faced losing her sight in her eye and may also need to have her eye removed.
Her mother told The Irish Times that a group of teenagers had been harassing her daughter for about five years. She had been verbally abused and eggs and cans of drink had been thrown at her. The attack last week is regarded by the family as an escalation in that campaign of abuse and harassment.
