Ottawa Woman's Mexico Vacation Became A Nightmare After She Was Beaten In Her Hotel Room

Taking a trip to a resort in Mexico should be a relaxing vacation to get away from it all. However, one person's recent trip there became a nightmare. A Canadian woman was attacked in Mexico while staying at a resort, and her injuries were so severe, that they required plastic surgery.

Lexie York, a 29-year-old from Ottawa, was staying at the Grand Bahia Principe Tulum resort in Mexico's Riviera Maya. According to Lexie's brother, Mathew, Lexie's room was not ready, so she waited by the pool until she could get in.

Once the room was ready in the afternoon, Lexie took a nap. She woke up later and went down to the lobby for some food. At the resort's restaurant, Lexie saw some familiar faces.

"She ran into some people she had spoken to at the pool and they invited her to eat with them," Mathew told CTV News, adding that there were two couples comprised of two men and two women.

When Lexie returned to her room, one of the couples made sure to walk her back. Later, the man who hadn't walked Lexie back to her room knocked on her door, claiming that his wife heard a scream. That was when the trouble began.

According to Mathew's account, the man burst into Lexie's room and began strangling her and beating her, eventually leaving her unconscious. 

When Lexie awoke, the swelling around her eyes was so bad she couldn't see, but she managed to make it out of the room and call for help. She was taken to a hospital and eventually underwent plastic surgery.

"She now has a metal plate in her cheek and she had mesh put under her eyes to bring her muscle up to where it ought to be," Mathew told CTV. "She can’t quite see, one eye is blurry and the other is double vision."

The family has set up a GoFundMe page to pay for Lexie's care, as it is unclear when she will be able to return to Canada.

Canadians have been attacked in Mexico during their vacations before. In 2018, an Ontario man was beaten and robbed in Playa Del Carmen. He told Global News that he would never go to Mexico again.

Two Canadians were also among those who were killed during a shooting at a music festival that also took place in Playa Del Carmen in 2017.

Canada's travel advisory for Mexico is to exercise a high degree of caution when visiting the country.

Visiting some parts of Mexico can even cost extra with the introduction of a new tourist tax. It's always tempting to go, though, especially with all of the deals on flights to Mexico that airlines offer.

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