'She’s just worried about not looking normal': Mother of teen beaten in Dublin speaks out

Alanna Quinn Idris, aged 17, risks losing sight in one eye after being badly beaten around the face and body by a gang of youths on a main road in Ballyfermot on Thursday night. Pic: gofundme.com

The mother of a teenager who was assaulted in Dublin has said what happened to her daughter in "devastating".

Alanna Quinn Idris, 17, was badly beaten by a gang of youths in Ballyfermot on Thursday night.

A male friend, who tried to protect her, was beaten and stabbed in the same attack, which happened outside Ballyfermot Community Centre at around 9.30pm.

Alanna suffered serious facial injuries, including a ruptured eyeball and broken bones in her cheek and eye socket.

She was told that there is a 90% chance she will lose sight in her right eye.

Her mother, Jamie, explained that her daughter had been in Liffey Valley with her friends and had been waiting for someone to finish work before getting the bus home.

“When she was on the bus…somebody said something to her, she said something to him and it kind of went back and forth a little bit," she told Newstalk Breakfast.

Jamie said a friend stepped in to say something in Alanna’s defence before they got off the bus.

After they crossed the road, they were waiting for another friend when “a group of youths” appeared, with some of them approaching Alanna and her friends.

“There was a little bit of a scuffle Alanna was punched in the face. She fell to the ground.

“She got back up because they were hitting her friend. They were trying, obviously, to protect each other.” 

Jamie said her daughter doesn’t remember what happened next but she heard that Alanna was hit again "with something", which Jamie thinks may have caused the damage.

“I’m not 100% sure, I wasn’t there. I don’t really know exactly what happened, just hearing little bits from Alanna, that she can remember.” 

Jamie said Alanna was in an “upbeat” mood over the weekend but that changed upon seeing her injuries.

Alanna, who was assaulted on Thursday night. 

She described what happened to Alanna as “devastating”.

“She’s a 17-year-old. She’s just worried about not looking normal. Stuff like that nowadays is so huge because of social media.

“She’s just really worried about not looking normal, and that’s her fear, I think.” Jamie added: “The eyesight at first wasn’t such a huge deal because she was like ‘I still have one eye’.

“I think she was really hopeful the diagnosis, they were probably just saying worst, worst, worst-case scenario.

“But I think after she saw the eye the other night, she kind of was like ‘okay, this is not going to work anymore’.” 

Jamie said that Gardaí have been “in constant contact” with her, which she appreciated.

“They’re working on things and they’re trying to do things correctly. So I’m being patient.” 

Gardaí said today that an incident room has been established at Ballyfermot Garda Station and significant progress has been made in the investigation to date.

A Go Fund Me has since raised more than €50,000 for the teen.

The funds are being raised for Alanna and the boy who tried to protect her.

A post on the Go Fund Me page said that Alanna’s mom “has asked that all donations be split equally with Alanna’s friend who was also injured alongside her”.

The fundraiser was originally set up to show the two families “that Ballyfermot, Dublin and even Ireland as a whole is better than this” and that people will support their recovery.

Gardaí have today renewed their appeal for witnesses to the assault.

Investigators are appealing to anyone who was in the vicinity of Ballyfermot Road between approximately 9.15pm and 10pm to come forward.

They are also appealing to those with camera footage, including motorists with dash cam recordings, from Ballyfermot Road at the time to make it available to them.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Ballyfermot Garda Station on 01 666 7200, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any garda station.