Bound woman too shaken to speak of ordeal

THE WOMAN who was tied up and gagged for two days by her partner is still too shaken to speak about what happened.

Collette Keane, 54, is recovering in hospital, more than a week after she was discovered in her Roscommon home, bound to her bed, with a sponge stuffed in her mouth.

A family friend said yesterday she is unable to sleep and cannot stop re-living what she was subjected to by Paul Timothy, whose body was later recovered from the sea off the Cliffs of Moher.

Local councillor Dominic Connolly said yesterday: “Collette is still too shaken to speak about what she went through and gardaí have been unable to interview her yet. It’s going to take her an awful long time to get over this.

“She’s still very frail and too petrified to sleep properly and when she does she’s suffering from nightmares.

“There’s no doubt she’ll need counselling to get over it and it will take a long time for her to come to terms with what happened.”

The mother of two is also being treated by medical teams at Portiuncla Hospital for dehydration and exhaustion, along with the physical injuries she sustained as a result of being tied and gagged for two days.

It is understood that the skin and flesh on her ankles and wrists were cut as she tried to struggle free.

Earlier this week it emerged that Manchester-born Mr Timothy, 47, who worked as a handyman in Roscommon, had been on a drinking binge shortly before his death.

He made efforts to contact a friend to tell him about what he had done to Ms Keane, but his story was dismissed as Mr Timothy — who was buried last Saturday — had a habit of heavy drinking and making irrational statements.

But when the man heard Mr Timothy’s body had been recovered, he contacted gardaí — but they were already in the process of breaking into Ms Keane’s apartment, having found a SIM card on the deceased’s person.

Cllr Connolly said: “People here are still struggling to come to terms with what happened. Mr Timothy was well liked in the area and was a lovely person. It’s been very difficult to get a handle on why this happened.”