Girl charged with fatal assault on Scarlett Faulkner to undergo psychological assessment

David Raleigh

A psychological evaluation is to be carried out in respect of a teenage girl, who is charged in connection with the fatal assault on Scarlett Faulkner, a court heard Thursday.

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

The girl appeared before Nenagh District Court this Thursday morning via a video-link from a youth detention centre.

She did not speak other than to indicate that she could hear and see the proceedings.

The girl’s solicitor, Turlough Herbert, Herbert & Co Sols, Limerick, indicated that a psychological assessment of the girl was being scheduled while she was being detained on remand.

“In respect of the psychological evaluation, we have that matter in hand,” said Mr Herbert.

A co-accused in the case, a 40-year-old woman, also appeared on remand before the court via video link, from Limerick Prison.

The woman, who was represented in court by solicitor Pauric Nesbit, Darach McCarthy Sols & Co, Limerick, spoke only to confirm she could hear and see the proceedings.

Neither accused can be named because of reporting restrictions imposed by a judge last March.

Nenagh District Court Judge, Fiona Brennan, granted an application by prosecuting gardaí, with the consent of solicitors for both accused females, for a four-week adjournment.

The judge said reporting restrictions that were previously imposed, last March, remained in place.

The judge remanded the two accused in continuing custody to appear before Nenagh District Court for directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions, on May 15th.

Gardaí previously alleged in court that the accused girl struck Faulkner at least 11 times on her head with an iron bar.

Gardaí also alleged that the girl laughed when gardaí showed her a photograph of Ms Faulkner’s injuries.

Gardaí told Limerick District Court, last March, that they responded to a report of a violent assault near Birdhill on the afternoon in question, and they found Ms Faulkner with critical head injuries lying on the R494.

Gardaí said 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. She was laid to rest last Friday.

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

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

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

Gardaí alleged Faulkner was observed exiting the rammed van and that the accused girl followed her and allegedly struck her 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 alleged in court.

The garda described as “callous” the attack, and further alleged that another young female recorded the assault on a mobile phone camera.

The garda gave uncontested 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, gardaí said.

The court heard that both accused are presumed innocent unless they say otherwise or are proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.