The young woman's assault occurred during a holiday at the Grand Bahia Principe hotel in Tulum. Photo / Supplied
The young woman's assault occurred during a holiday at the Grand Bahia Principe hotel in Tulum. Photo / Supplied
A Canadian flight attendant says she was beaten senseless while on holiday at a Mexican resort – a horrifying attack that required hours of facial reconstruction surgery, according to reports.
Lexie York, 29, was assaulted inside her hotel room on November 10 on her first night at the Grand Bahia Principe resort in Tulum, the CBC reported.
Earlier in the day, the Ottawa woman was hanging out with strangers – a group of two couples – in the luxury hotel's restaurant, Mexico News Daily reported.
The flight attendant required hours of facial reconstruction surgery after a man forced his way into her room. Photo / Supplied
She eventually went back to her room and, later that night, heard a knock at her door and was confronted by one of the men from the group who forced his way into her room, the CBC reported.
"That's when he started strangling me," Ms York told the outlet. "I ended up on the bed. He was pushing me down into the bed, squeezing my throat."
She claims the man repeatedly beat her head and face until she lost consciousness.
When she woke, she was on the floor beside her bed and had lost vision in both eyes, according to CBC.
Ms York managed to escape the room to get help and was brought to a hospital in Playa del Carmen, the outlet reported. She's now recovering at a hospital in Cancun after undergoing facial reconstructive procedures.
"She had nine hours of plastic surgery," her brother Mathew York told CBC. "She has nerve damage in her face. The swelling is kind of going down now, but at the time it was quite bad."
She reportedly has double vision in one eye and hasn't regained her sight in the other.
She reportedly has double vision in one eye and hasn't regained her sight in the other. Photo / CTV News, via YouTube
Ms York, however, said she's staying positive about her recovery process after the "shocking" attack.
"I'm hoping I can go home in about a week," she told the CBC.
The alleged perpetrator, who was identified as Ricardo S.P., a 34-year-old chauffeur from Mexico City, was arrested in connection with the attack, Mexico News Daily reported.
Bahia Principe hotels issued a statement in response to the grisly assault, saying the incident was "upsetting."
"As soon as the hotel was informed of the incident, staff immediately activated our internal security protocol, including providing urgent medical assistance and alerting the local authorities," the statement obtained by CBC said.
"We wish Ms York a speedy recovery and hope that the authorities get to the bottom of this incident as soon as possible."
