MacDonagh Junction Shopping Centre has moved to reassure the Kilkenny public that a rumour surrounding the abduction of a child at the shopping centre over the Christmas is entirely untrue.
Donie Butler centre manager at the facility said this week in a statement that an assertion by an anonymous contributor to Facebook in December claiming that a “young person was abducted at the centre” prior to Christmas and “had their head shaved in the public toilets” is both absolutely false and untrue.
“There is no evidence to substantiate this Facebook allegation and we have an extremely extensive CCTV system which aids our team ensure a safe and enjoyable shopping experience and this has been viewed by the Kilkenny Gardai,” said Mr Butler.
“No such incident was reported to any member of our security, cleaning, car park staff teams, customer services staff, any of our stores or indeed the centre management team,” he said.
MacDonagh Junction reported the rumour to Kilkenny Gardai and both Kilkenny Gardai and MacDonagh Junction is conducting extensive investigations into identifying the source of the rumour through Facebook Ireland and other sources.
Mr Butler added that since opening in 2007 MacDonagh Junction, pride themselves as one of the most child- friendly and secure shopping centres in Ireland.
“The internet is a wonderful modern communication tool,” said Mr Butler, “but unfortunately it is vulnerable to improper use by unscrupulous users. The public is fast becoming more and more aware of such abuses through the misuse of many elements of the social networking sites and perhaps it is high time for stricter policing controls of such communications tools which can be potentially very damaging if used maliciously.”
