A Mayo woman who was shot in Australia has had a successful operation and there is hope she will make a recovery, a councillor has said.
Eileen Gibbons (30s), a nurse from Castlebar and mother of one, is still critical in a Darwin hospital.
Cllr Martin McLoughlin told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that when news of the shooting emerged the people of the town were “devastated, shocked and numbed.”
“There's a lot of young people from Castlebar that have emigrated over a number of years and they went to Darwin and quite a number of them have stayed and found work there and stayed on in Darwin. And she's one of those who have stayed. So there are a lot of young people her age living in Darwin and I think that's good for her and I know that they would rally around. She has great friends who will be there at this awful time in her life.”
Cllr McLoughlin said members of the Gibbons family were on their way to Darwin and they would be assisted by the Castlebar community in the Australian city.
It was encouraging that Eileen and her family would have such support, he added. They also had the support of the community at home.
Northern Territory police were called to a house in the Milner area of Darwin at around 6.30pm local time on Tuesday evening over reports of gunshots.
They found Ms Gibbons with serious injuries to her abdomen. She was stabilised at the scene by paramedics and later underwent emergency surgery.
A 35-year-old man who was known to her was found dead at the scene. Police believe he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and say there is no risk to the wider public.
