An Irish woman who was seriously injured after being shot by her ex-partner during an attempted murder-suicide in Australia is now awake in hospital and has been visited by her one-year-old daughter.
Eileen Gibbons, 38, was shot in the abdomen in a house in the Darwin suburb of Millner last week and remains in critical condition in hospital.
Her ex-partner Ralph Donald, 35, was found dead at the scene and is believed to have taken his own life after shooting her in the abdomen.
Eileen, a social care worker from Co Mayo, moved to Australia 11 years ago and has a one-year-old daughter named Sylvia.
Her cousin Enda O'Brien said Eileen remains in critical condition in hospital but said she has been able to speak and has been responding well to treatment.
He also revealed that Eileen has been reunited with her daughter Sylvia in hospital.
"Eileen is conscious and she is talking, but she still has a long road ahead of her," O'Brien told the Irish Independent.
"There is a lot of damage done. She knows what’s going on, but I don’t know if she knows fully the extent of what happened."
O'Brien has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help cover the cost of travel, accommodation, and unforeseen expenses for Eileen's family.
He said Eileen's mother Ann is currently traveling to Australia to be by her daughter's bedside and added the plan is for Eileen and Sylvia to move back to Ireland.
"The plan is to eventually take Eileen and Sylvia home to Ireland, but she has a lot of recovering to do before that," he told the Independent.
Eileen's mother issued a short statement thanking those who have donated to the GoFundMe campaign and those who have been by her daughter's side in Darwin.
"The lovely messages, phone calls, prayers, candles and financial support we have received lifted us up and carried up along on a river of goodwill," Ann said in a statement.
"To those by her side in Darwin, keeping her spirit alive and stepping in to care for Sylvia, we are forever grateful."
O'Brien told the Irish Sunday Mirror that Gibbons had fled her home a number of months ago to take refuge in a domestic violence shelter.
He added that the couple broke up about three months ago and that Gibbons was shot when she returned to the house to collect her belongings.
Authorities were called to a house on Sprigg Street in Millner at around 6:30 pm local time on Tuesday, October 3.
Detective Senior Sergeant Paul Morrissey, of Northern Territory Police, said multiple units were deployed to the house and that other people were in the house at the time of the incident.
Paramedics stabilized Eileen at the scene before rushing her to the hospital.
Donald died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and a firearm was found near his body, according to widespread reports.
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