Canadian woman in coma after brutal beating in Mexico

A 37-year-old Canadian woman is in a medically induced coma and will need facial reconstructive surgery after she was savagely beaten at a resort in Mexico on Saturday, her uncle told CityNews.

It happened at the Hotel Riu Emerald Bay in the west-coast resort town of Mazatlan.

Robert Prosser said his niece, Sheila Nabb, was in Mexico vacationing with her husband Andrew. The couple lives in Calgary.

“From what we know she got up in the middle of the night to go down to the lobby in the hotel,” Prosser said in a telephone interview from Kingston, N.S. “She got in the elevator and she was attacked in the elevator.”

“She was found unconscious laying in a pool of blood…They had to put her in an induced coma because of all the trauma.”

Prosser said Nabb’s husband woke to find her missing, and only later learned that she was taken to hospital.

She is expected to survive, Prosser said, but will need a long recovery.

“Every bone in her face is broken or shattered,” he revealed. “She’s going to have to have her jaw wired shut and plates put in where her cheekbones were.  [The specialist] said it would probably be two to three weeks before she’ll be stable enough to be sent home to Calgary.”

Aliya Mawani, a spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs, says Canadian officials in Mexico are providing assistance to the family.

“Our thoughts are with the badly injured Canadian and her family during this difficult time,” said Mawani.

Mawani said Canadian officials are in contact with Mexican authorities. So far there’s no word on charges.

Canada’s official travel warning for Mexico includes Mazatlan.

“Organized crime and urban violence affect security,” the Government of Canada website warns.

The State of Sinaloa Government issued the following statement Monday:

“There is a full investigation taking place under the direction of the State Attorney General’s Office.

The State of Sinaloa Government is collaborating with Canadian authorities in keeping them informed of all advances in the investigation.

The State Government of Sinaloa is also working to provide support to the victim’s family.

The Government of Sinaloa and indeed Mexico values the safety and security of tourists and citizens alike as top priorities. This was an unfortunate and isolated event.

Any further developments in the investigation will be made public as they become available.”

“I would probably never go to Mexico myself,” Prosser said. “You hear it all the time and it seems to be more and more. I don’t know if it’s because of all the drugs or what.”

“She’s smart, bubbly, joyful, always got a smile. We just can’t understand why anybody would want to do this.”

Nabb’s beating is the latest in a string of incidents involving Canadians visiting Mexico in recent weeks.

Last month, the body of Ximena Osequeda of Vancouver was discovered partially buried on a beach in Huatulco, south of Acapulco.

And earlier this month, a B.C. man, Robin Wood, 67, was killed when he confronted two suspects who tried to rob a friend’s home in the town of Melaque, south of Puerto Vallarta.

With files from The Canadian Press

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