Jenny endures 20 ops in 6 weeks
April 3, 2007

Six weeks after she was struck by a car and dragged more than 150 metres, Sydney woman Jenny Franco is still too ill to speak to police.

The 23-year-old has been operated on at least 20 times after she was struck and dragged along the road by a car - believed to be a taxi - in Miranda, in Sydney's south, on February 20. She was just metres from her home.

Her injuries, which surgeons have compared to a close-range gunshot wound, include the loss of her left eye.

But Ms Franco is beginning to recall parts of the incident, her family says. On March 15, Dr Thomas Nau, St George Hospital's head of trauma, said Ms Franco could be well enough to speak to detectives within two weeks.

Cronulla crime manager, Acting Inspector Adam Barwick, said today it was not known when Ms Franco would be well enough for a formal police interview. " We're still working on it; it's just something that we want to get to, because she's the person that got hit," he said."We want to know from her if she can tell us anything, but, bearing in mind her head injuries, she may not remember anything anyway."

Police said it was still unclear whether Ms Franco was struck by the same taxi that delivered her and a friend to a street corner near her home, or if a second vehicle was responsible.

They were waiting for the results of forensic testing from a number of vehicles, including the taxi in which Ms Franco and her friend travelled home.

Source: © 2007 The Sydney Morning Herald