No sign of assault led to teen’s coma, say gardaí

A TEENAGER in a coma in hospital after being found unconscious by the side of the road, had no obvious marks to his body that would suggest he was the victim of an assault, gardaí said last night.

John Maloney, an 18-year-old Dubliner, was found slumped on a pavement on Sunday and rushed to Tallaght Hospital, where he remains in a serious condition in intensive care.

Gardaí are investigating what happened to the young man before he collapsed in the south Dublin street.

Doctors are carrying out toxicology tests and brain scans as they attempt to establish the cause of his illness.

Mr Maloney had no obvious marks on his body consistent with him being assaulted and there was no sign of a struggle, a garda spokesman said.

His parents, John and Sandra, are baffled as to what happened to their son, who had been released from garda custody two hours before he was found unconscious in a housing estate in Rathfarnham.

"We know his whereabouts up to a couple of hours before he was discovered, but what happened then is a mystery," said Mr Maloney Snr.

The teenager and a friend were returning on Sunday morning from a camping trip in Enniskerry, Co Wexford, when their car began overheating as they reached the outskirts of Dublin.

As they began pushing the vehicle, they were stopped by gardaí and taken to a nearby station where they were searched for drugs.

Nothing was found and they were released, separately, about half an hour after being picked up.

When Mr Maloney was discovered, gardaí from Rathfarnham did not know his identity.

It was only on Monday morning, after his parents heard an appeal for information on the radio, that he was identified, particularly from the description of a tattoo of a black eagle's head with the name John underneath on his left upper arm.

"The worst thing is not knowing what happened to him," Mr Maloney Snr said.

"There are a couple of hours of his life missing and we just want to know what happened to put him in this state."