A 16-year-old girl allegedly struck a woman 11 times on the head with an iron bar, a special weekend court sitting has heard.

Investigating gardaí told Limerick District Court that the teenager laughed when shown a photograph of Scarlett Faulkner, 29, seriously injured in the attack.

Ms Faulkner, a member of a Traveller family from Longpavement, Limerick, was found with critical head injuries at the side of the R494 road, just outside the village of Birdhill, Co Tipperary, on Saturday (March 21), the Irish Mirror reports.

The teenager, who was arrested last Thursday in connection with the assault, appeared before Saturday night’s sitting charged with one count of assault causing serious harm.

 

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Scarlett Faulkner is fighting for her life in Cork University Hospital

A 40-year-old woman also appeared in court, charged with four offences connected to the assault, including violent disorder, reckless endangerment and burglary. Judge Carol Anne Coolican imposed reporting restrictions on both accused, preventing them from being publicly named.

Gardaí told the court that officers from the East Clare and North Tipperary divisions responded to a report of a violent assault near Birdhill on the afternoon of March 21.

Ms Faulkner was airlifted to University Hospital Limerick and later transferred to Cork University Hospital, where she remains in a “critical condition” with “life-threatening injuries”, gardaí said.

Gardaí told contested bail hearings for each of the two accused females that, prior to the attack on Ms Faulkner, the adult accused burgled and smashed up a caravan and that the accused teenager filmed that attack. Investigators alleged the woman pursued Ms Faulkner and a male companion in a van for 24 hours before ramming the vehicle on the R494, forcing it to stop. The court was told that dashcam and CCTV footage support these claims.

Following the collision, Ms Faulkner was seen fleeing from the van, running along the R494 towards a roundabout, where the teenage girl allegedly attacked her, gardaí said. Video footage showed the girl exiting the woman’s car with a weapon and allegedly striking Ms Faulkner at least 11 times on the head while she lay on the roadside, gardaí said.

“Each injury is sustained to the head. Eleven blows to the head can be observed on CCTV,” a garda said, describing the attack as “callous”. The garda said the teenager showed a “complete lack of empathy” by laughing when she was later shown a still image of Ms Faulkner at the scene.

Gardaí told the court that they believe another young person at the scene filmed the attack on a mobile phone and that, following the assault, the accused girl allegedly threw the iron bar at Ms Faulkner’s male companion.

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Neither accused responded to the charges. Security was tight at the night-time court sitting, with entry to the courthouse restricted. Uniformed and plain-clothes gardaí maintained a heavy presence inside the court. Solicitors for both accused said their clients would abide by any bail conditions.

Gardaí objected to bail, citing concerns that both accused would commit serious offences or fail to comply with bail conditions if released. Judge Coolican said she was satisfied to refuse bail for both while noting that each is entitled to a “presumption of innocence”.

The teenage girl was remanded to a youth detention facility, and the woman to a remand prison. Both are due to appear via videolink at Tipperary District Court in Thurles on April 1.