'Petrified' young woman leaves city after waking to find man at end of her bed in Cork

She has issued a warning to others, particularly young women, to be cautious and ensure that their doors and windows are locked

She believes the man was afraid that her neighbours would hear her scream and quickly left through the front door of the house. File photo

A young woman in Cork City has issued a warning to others after she woke to find a man at the end of her bed while she was home alone.

Keyara Connolly (21) is currently completing a PLC and living in the city in a house that she shares with two other young female students and a young man. On Thursday night, while her housemates were on a night out, and another at work, she woke at 4am to find a man standing at the end of her bed.

Thankfully, the man left the house after Ms Connolly woke up and started to scream. She has since left the accommodation to return home to Tipperary and said she does not think she will be able to go back.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Ms Connolly said she had just gone to sleep at about 3am on Thursday night and about 50 minutes later, she woke up to her bedroom door creaking. At first, she presumed that her housemates had come home with friends, and someone may have been looking for a bathroom.

“It was pitch dark I couldn’t see anything,” she explained. “The man had a very high-pitched voice and a foreign accent, and I just thought it was a boy joking.” 

As she had just woken up, it took her a couple of seconds to realise what was happening but when she couldn’t hear anyone else downstairs, she knew it was a stranger in her room.

“He kind of walked into the bedroom and he was walking up beside my bed and I was screaming at this point,” she said.

I could only see the shadow of his hands, but he was holding them up and he was hushing me, and I just started screaming louder.

She was “petrified” and even while she was screaming, her voice was “shaking and breaking”. She believes the man was afraid that her neighbours would hear her scream and quickly left through the front door of the house.

“I waited a few minutes to hear if he was still downstairs and I went down and I locked the door and I rang the guards.” 

There were laptops in the bedrooms, but nothing was taken. She believes the man entered through the front door.

“The doors were kind of opened in everyone’s room and the girl's across from me, her room light was on, and the door was open, so I presume he was walking around looking at the rooms but didn’t steal anything, so it was very strange.” 

The 21-year-old stayed one more night at the house but had to return to her home in Tipperary and she is now moving out of the house. Her housemates are also “petrified” following the incident, she said.

Now, Ms Connolly has urged other people, and particularly young women, to be cautious and ensure that their doors and windows are locked.

Gardaí confirmed that they attended the incident at approximately 4.30am on Friday, 11 February. No arrests have yet been made and investigations are ongoing.