‘You can’t let people take joy from your life and take freedom from you’

A local woman who was the victim of a sexual assault while out walking along the Royal Canal tow path says that women cannot" let other people take our joys and our freedoms away from us".

A number of years ago, Fiona was out walking with her dog along the canal on the outskirts of Mullingar when she saw a group of three adolescents coming towards her.

Speaking on the Joe Duffy Show last Thursday the day after Ashling Murphy’s tragic death in Tullamore, Fiona said that the three young men were "very normal looking guys" and asked her the time. She told host Katie Hannon that strangely one of the young men also asked if she knew who they were.

After their brief conversation, Fiona carried on towards her car and after a short while noticed that the young men had changed direction and were behind her.

“They were walking but I was still a good bit away from the car, so I picked up the pace. They passed me as I got into the car. I had this compulsion and I pressed the central locking. The guy with the glasses came down to car window and knocked on the window.

“...You beat yourself up afterwards saying 'Why did I let down the window? I suppose they were young boys, they were adolescents and I thought was something wrong, were they stuck?

“So I let the window down halfway. I had the dog in the car and everything. You feel a little bit safer with a dog or I always did.

“I don't know what he was asking, I can't remember the exact words, but then [he started] grabbing at my chest through the car window, trying to pull my jumper, trying the door handle. Just a really scary experience.

“I got the window up. The three of them ran off.”

When she got home she told her father, who convinced her to go into the Garda Station to make a statement.

Although shaken by the incident, Fiona said that if it hadn't been for her father she may not have gone to the Gardaí.

“Daddy said ‘You realise how serious that is’. He put it to me that ‘You were in the car, you were lucky, the next person mighn’t be’.”

Thanks to her description, the Gardaí managed to locate the three young men. She subsequently found out that the one who carried out the attack was only 15 at the time.

While she said that it “wasn't easy” after such a traumatic experience, she has started walking along the canal again.

“You can't let people take joy from your life and take freedom from you. What kind of a world would we be living in if we let other people take our joys and our freedoms away from us?”

Like Ashling, Fiona is a teacher. She says that the whole teaching community is just “rocked and devastated by what happened to her”.

Ashling’s death has been the catalyst for a debate on violence against women and what as a society we can do to prevent incidents like this happening again. Fiona says that it is time that the issue of gender based violence is properly addressed.

"Every voice is important in this debate. We can't stop talking," Fiona said.