TEEN ‘SECONDS FROM DEATH IN THUG ASSAULT’
Battered Shanan, 18, in appeal after horrifying attack during night out
After this I would say to girls not to be anywhere alone SHANAN REID-MCDAID YESTERDAY
A TEENAGER has told how she was seconds from death after being brutally assaulted. Shanan Reid-mcdaid, 18, had enjoyed a night out with friends in Co Donegal on Saturday evening and was looking for a taxi when she was attacked. She was approached fr om behind by a man who called her a “s ***”’ and ab ****’ close to the Market Square in Letterkenny. Shanan, an arts student at Galway University, said she doesn’t know how she survived the attack. She added: “He looked very normal and I just didn’t know why he would call me those names. “When I turned around to confront him, he just punched me in the face and I fell down. “He then started punching me over and over again. “I just mumbled I was sorry, I was sorry and I pleaded with him to stop. If the attack had lasted any longer, I’m convinced I would have died.” Shanan , fr om Illistrin near Letterkenny, had been out with her boyfriend Glen and two pals who were a short distance away but did not hear her ordeal that happened around 3am.
TREATMENT
The student spent four hours at Letterkenny University Hospital and was due at Sligo Hospital yesterday for more treatment for facial injuries but that was axed due to Hurricane Ophelia. Appealing for information, she described her attacker as being between 30 and 40, clean-shaven with a Donegal or Northern accent and had brown or dirty blond hair. Shanan said he was wearing a navy or dark blazer with a light shirt underneath and denim jeans. She added she has no plans to go out again after her ordeal. Shanan said: “I don’t know why this man attacked me. I do know that from what I went through he is capable of doing it again. “I’m a pretty normal girl going to college and trying to get on with things and now this has completely knocked me. “After this I would certainly say to girls out there not to be anywhere alone.” Donegal County Council chairman Gerr y Mcmonagle added attacks in Letterkenny were becoming too frequent. He said: “This is not the first time we have heard of a young woman being attacked and this is simply another shocking incident. “I wish the young woman a speedy recovery.”