Psychological report awaited on girl charged in connection with fatal assault on Scarlett Faulkner

David Raleigh

A judge’s order for a girl to be psychologically assessed after she was charged in connection with the fatal assault of Scarlett Faulkner has yet to be carried out, seven weeks after the order was made, a court heard this Friday.

The 16-year-old accused is charged with assault causing serious harm to Faulkner (29), at the R494 Birdhill, Co Tipperary, on March 21st last.

Judge Marie Keane, Nenagh District Court, said she made an order on April 1st last that a psychological assessment be carried out in respect of the accused girl.

The accused girl appeared before Nenagh District Court via a video-link, accompanied by “care staff” at a youth detention centre.

Sergeant Adrian Whelan, Nenagh Garda Station, said a Garda investigation file, in respect to the girl’s alleged involvement in the assault on Faulkner, had been “forwarded” to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

An application by Sergeant Whelan for a four-week adjournment, consented to by the girl’s solicitor, John Herbert, Herbert & Co Sols, Limerick, was granted by Judge Keane.

Herbert told Judge Keane the psychological assessment on the accused girl was “still awaited”.

Herbert assured the judge he was making enquiries through a number of psychologists to arrange the psychological evaluation on the girl.

“I’ve been in contact with two psychologists, and I will be speaking to a third,” Mr Herbert told the court.

Judge Keane replied that, in her view, it has “always” been “exceptionally slow” to arrange and process psychological assessment reports for the courts.

The accused girl spoke only to confirm her name and that she could hear and see the proceedings.

A co-accused 40-year-old woman also appeared before the court on Friday.

The woman, who is charged with violent disorder, endangerment and burglary, appeared before Judge Keane via a video-link from a remand prison.

The judge granted a similar application by Sergeant Whelan and consented to by the woman’s solicitor, Pauric Nesbitt, Darach McCarthy & Co Solicitors, Limerick, for a four-week adjournment.

Judge Keane remanded the accused girl and the accused woman in continuing custody to appear before Nenagh District Court again on June 12th for directions from the DPP.

Members of Faulkner’s family sat in Nenagh court and watched the proceedings this Friday.

Neither accused can be named because of reporting restrictions imposed by Limerick District Court, where the two accused were initially charged last March.

Gardaí alleged during bail hearings last March that the accused girl struck Scarlett Faulkner’s head with an iron bar at least 11 times.

Gardaí also alleged that the girl laughed when they showed her a photograph of Faulkner’s injuries after the alleged attack.

Gardai told the March hearing that they responded to a report of a violent assault near Birdhill, Co Tipperary, on March 21st last, and found Faulkner lying on the R494 road with critical head injuries.

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

Faulkner died from her injuries on April 13th after her life support was turned off at CUH on April 12th.

Gardaí alleged that the accused woman had been searching for Faulkner for 24 hours prior to the attack, and that she burgled and smashed up a caravan in seeking her.

The court heard the caravan burglary was allegedly recorded by the accused girl on a mobile phone.

Gardaí claimed that the accused woman drove herself, the accused girl and others, in a car that pursued and rammed a van carrying Faulkner and a man on the R494 on March 21st.

Gardaí alleged Ms Faulkner was witnessed exiting the rammed van and being pursued by the accused girl, who gardaí alleged struck Ms Faulkner on her head at least 11 times with an iron bar.

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

The prosecuting garda witness described as “callous” the alleged attack on Ms Faulkner, and told the court that another young female made a video recording of the assault using a mobile phone camera.

The garda gave uncontested evidence that the girl told gardai 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, gardaí said.