Girl (16) struck Scarlett Faulkner 11 times on head with bar, gardaí tell court

David Raleigh

A 16-year old girl struck Limerick woman Scarlett Faulkner 11 times on her head with an iron bar, a special weekend court sitting heard Saturday night.

The girl allegedly laughed when gardaí later showed her a photograph of Faulkner seriously injured following the attack, investigating gardaí told Limerick District Court.

Scarlett Faulkner (late 20s), a member of a Traveller family from Longpavement, Limerick, was found by gardaí with critical head injuries at the side of the R494 road, just outside the village of Birdhill, Co Tipperary, Saturday, March 21st.

A 16-year old girl arrested in connection with the attack last Thursday, appeared before Saturday night’s sitting of Limerick District Court charged with one count of assault causing serious harm to Faulkner.

A 40-year old woman appeared before the court charged with four offences arising out of the alleged assault on Faulkner, including violent disorder, reckless endangerment and burglary.

Judge Carol Anne Coolican ordered reporting restrictions in respect of both accused, meaning they cannot be identified.

Gardai told Limerick District Court that gardai attached to East Clare and north Tipperary Divisions responded to a report of a violent assault near Birdhill on the afternoon in question.

Gardaí said Scarlett Faulkner was airlifted from the scene to University Hospital Limerick and later transferred to Cork University Hospital where she remained in a “critical condition” with ‘life threatening injuries”.

Gardaí told contested bail hearings for each of the two accused females, that, prior to the attack on Faulkner, the adult accused burgled and smashed up a caravan and that the accused girl videoed the attack on the caravan.

Gardaí alleged that the adult accused had been searching for Faulkner for 24 hours prior to the attack.

Gardaí claimed that in the lead up to the assault on Faulkner, the accused woman drove a Volkswagen Touran car, carrying the accused girl and others as passengers, overtaking a number of vehicles near Birdhill as she pursued Faulkner and a male who were travelling in a van.

Gardaí alleged the accused woman pursued the van for a number of miles and that she eventually rammed the van carrying Faulkner and the male on the R494 road forcing it to stop.

CCTV footage

Gardaí told the court dash cam footage and CCTV footage from cars and security cameras supported their evidence.

Gardaí said that, following the ramming, Faulkner was seen fleeing from the van and ran along the R494 towards a roundabout outside Birdhill before she was allegedly attacked by the accused girl.

Gardaí said the girl can be seen on video footage alighting from the accused woman’s car with a weapon in her hand and running after  Faulkner.

Gardaí claimed the accused girl caught up to Faulkner and struck her at least 11 times on her head while Faulkner is lying on the roadside.

“Each injury is sustained to the head. Eleven blows to the head can be observed on CCTV,” a garda told the court.

The garda described the alleged attack by the girl on Ms Faulkner as “callous”.

The garda said the girl showed a “complete lack of empathy” by laughing when gardai later showed her a still image of Faulkner at the scene.

Gardaí told the court they believe another young person at the scene recorded the assault on Faulkner on a mobile phone.

It’s alleged that following the assault the accused girl threw the iron bar at the man who had been travelling with Faulkner.

The garda gave unconsidered evidence that the girl told gardaí during interviews after her arrest: “I followed her and I hit her a few times with the pole and that’s what happened.”

Neither of the accused made any reply to the charges, the court heard.

Security was tight at the night time court sitting and entry to the courthouse was restricted.

Garda presence

A heavy presence of uniformed and plain clothes members of An Garda Síochána was present inside the court during the contested bail hearings.

Two solicitors for each accused said their clients would abide by any bail conditions.

Objecting to bail, gardai said they believed that if granted bail each accused would commit serious offences and not abide by any bail conditions.

Judge Coolican said she was satisfied to refuse bail for both accused.

The judge said each accused was before the court with a “presumption of innocence”.

She remanded the girl to a youth detention facility, and the woman to a remand prison, to appear via video-link before Tipperary District Court, sitting in Thurles, on April 1st.