Scarlett Faulkner murder trial: woman and teen 'hunted down' victim in Tipperary
A 41-year-old woman and a teenage girl jointly pursued Scarlett Faulkner before the teen beat her to death with a metal pole, the Central Criminal Court has heard.
Jealousy motive alleged as Scarlett Faulkner murder trial opens at Central Criminal Court
A 41-year-old woman and a teenage girl deliberately "hunted down" mother-of-one Scarlett Faulkner before the younger accused beat her to death with a 63cm metal pole, the Central Criminal Court heard as the murder trial opened.
Barrister Seoirse Ó Dúnlaing SC, opening the prosecution's case, told the jury that both accused formed a joint enterprise with the intention of killing or causing serious harm to Ms Faulkner. TheJournal.ie reports that the alleged motive centred on a relationship: Ms Faulkner had been seeing the older accused's former partner.
According to counsel, the older woman spent an entire day searching for Ms Faulkner and the man before spotting him driving his Transit Van. She followed her former partner and rammed his vehicle off the road — an incident captured on dashcam footage.
Ms Faulkner stepped out of the van and encountered the teenage accused, who struck her ten or eleven times on the head with the metal pole. Mr Ó Dúnlaing told the jury: "That bar is of significant enough weight that to wield it in the manner she did, she could only have been using ferocious and brutal force."
While the younger accused carried out the assault, counsel said the older woman was simultaneously engaged in a confrontation with her former partner nearby.
Mr Ó Dúnlaing said the prosecution does not dispute that all of Ms Faulkner's fatal injuries were inflicted solely by the teenage accused. However, he maintained that both women were equally culpable under the doctrine of joint enterprise, having together sought out the victim and her partner with the intention of causing them serious harm.
The jury was told it would be shown mobile phone evidence that included a message sent by the older accused to Ms Faulkner's sister. The message read: "Your smell-bag of a sister will pay for what she has done… When I get her I will draw a map of Ireland on her face."
Jurors will also see mobile phone footage of the older accused holding an axe and damaging a caravan. Counsel said the evidence would show she entered the caravan without permission and committed criminal damage.
Mr Ó Dúnlaing noted that Ms Faulkner "had her own issues" and had been released from a three-month prison sentence shortly before her death. The jury will further hear that she had been using crack cocaine in the period prior to the incident.
Ms Faulkner (28) died on 13 April following an alleged incident at Birdhill, Co Tipperary, on 21 March 2026.
The 17-year-old co-accused, who cannot be named as she is a minor, has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter. The older woman has pleaded not guilty to murder.
The older accused also faces charges of burglary, entering a building as a trespasser and causing criminal damage at an address in Co Tipperary on 20 March, as well as a separate burglary charge and an assault causing harm at an address in Limerick on 21 March — charges to which she has also pleaded not guilty.
The trial is proceeding before Mr Justice Kerida Naidoo and a jury of eight men and four women.
Source: TheJournal.ie