Gardaí in Maynooth have said that they are currently scanning through hours of CCTV footage in order to determine whether or not Kym Owens (18) was followed from Co Monaghan to Maynooth, Co Kildare, before being attacked minutes from her student accommodation.
Ms Owens a first-year Maynooth University student is currently in critical condition in hospital after she was brutally attacked whilst walking to her accommodation in the Moyglare Abbey Estate on the outskirts of Maynooth at approximately 8.30pm on Sunday evening.
Gardaí say they are examining footage of Ms Owens bus travel route on the evening in question. Gardaí say they are looking at footage from when the bus departed from Monaghan town at 6pm and arrived in Maynooth at 8pm.
It is understood the bus made a number of stops on it’s journey, including pickups at Castleblayney, Carrickmacross, Ardee, Co Louth, Collon and Slane, in Co Meath.
Gardaí say they are now trying to trace an estimated 40 people who were on the bus at any time during its journey from Monaghan to Maynooth.
They also say they are trying to establish if the attacker was a passenger who got off the bus at the same location as Ms Owens and attacked her.