Woman (42) says alleged kidnapping attempt has ‘shrunk her world’

The victim of an alleged kidnapping attempt in Enniscorthy has spoken of how the experience has “shrunk her world” and made her afraid to do the thing she loves most. Julie Kirwan (42) is an experienced runner and has completed a number of marathons and long-distance events since taking up the sport at the age of 24.

Used to running by herself, Julie was out for an afternoon jog on the afternoon of Friday, April 12 when she encountered two males, one on foot and another in a car. She was on the footpath at St Senan’s Hospital when she says she was “chased by a young man in his twenties” who had a “white Volkswagen Golf working with him to trail me”.

“I was very aware of the situation and took off sprinting across the road away from the guy who had come across the road to interrupt my path and the car which had done a u-turn to be on the same side of the road as me,” she recalls.

Despite having a high-level of fitness, Julie says that she was beginning to “run out of gas” as the alleged kidnappers continued to pursue her and were it not for the intervention of a passing motorist she may not have evaded her would-be capturers. Describing this female driver as her “guardian angel”, Julie gets emotional when she recalls her escape.

“Even though I’m not a religious person, I think she was my angel that day. I’m fit and have run marathons but I was starting to run out of gas, you can only sprint for so long. It upsets me to think of other women who wouldn’t be as fit as me and wouldn’t have been able to run for as long.”

Thanks to the intervention of this woman, Julie was able to escape the scene and report the incident to Gardaí. However, she has been struggling to deal with the psychological impact of the incident ever since.

“I haven’t been sleeping much and I don’t have much appetite but I haven’t stopped running, they won’t take that away from me. I’ve been running for years and I have many thousands of solo miles done, and I always had it in my mind what I’d do if I ever encountered a situation like this, told myself I’d be able to outrun any man.

“But the way it happened, in broad daylight in a busy area, and the fact there were two of them, pulled the rug right from under me; I can outrun a man but I can’t outrun a car.”

Determined to continue her training, Julie has been accompanied by husband Brian on recent runs, but even with that level of security she admits to feeling vulnerable.

“He comes with me on the bike and I’m at the point now where if he goes ahead of me or is out of sight, I’m panicking, asking where is he gone.

“It feels pathetic to be like that. The fact that I’m now fearful while out running is making me mad. I’ve lived in America, Norway, Sweden, I’ve learned to have a response if something like this happens, to be clued in, but I fear younger women might not have those skills yet.

“But the fact this can happen here makes me wonder what our society has come to. There needs to be stronger repercussions for people who harass women like this. I know it’s not all men, but there are a few evil, sinister men who need to be dealt with if caught.”

Initially reluctant to share her story, Julie says she felt compelled to speak out after women from across the country contacted her to discuss similar experiences they had gone through.

“So many people have contacted me since it happened sharing their experiences; men following them or approaching them while they’re out walking or running. We need to encourage every women to report these incidences no matter how serious or not they may think they are. We’re not reporting this enough, not getting it into the public sphere.”

And she has advice for men who may not be as clued-in as their female counterparts when it comes to recognising dangerous situations.

“It took a woman to realise what was going on, what was happening to me. I think all women have become trained to have eyes in the back of their head with stuff like this, women are never fully at ease, the woman driving the car was vigilant and realised what was going on. I think it’s something we have to raise awareness of, perhaps men don’t always see danger like we would, but they could help so much by pulling in and approaching if they think something is wrong.”

Admitting that it will take some time for her to resume running on her own, Julie has some big events to look forward to later in the year, once-in-a-lifetime opportunities which she is determined to fulfil.

“I actually have a really exciting summer ahead, I was lucky enough to be chosen to run the Olympic route in Paris in the summer.

“We’ll be running it the night after the men’s marathon takes place. Later in the year I’m going to Amsterdam to run the marathon there. So there’s lots to look forward to, my strength is coming back. But I have to say, my world has shrunk a bit because of this.”

The Enniscorthy Guardian contacted the Garda Press Office for a statement regarding this case but had yet to receive a response at the time of going to print.