Witness tells murder trial he 'heard a child crying' on night Cork toddler died

Neighbour Aoife Niamh McGaley told the court that what she heard was 'completely out of character' for Karen Harrington

Dylan Olney at the Central Criminal Court in Cork today where he told the court: “I heard repetitive banging, repetitive thumping." Picture Dan Linehan

A man living next door to the woman accused of murdering two-year-old Santina Cawley heard the child crying for about 20 minutes in the early hours of the morning and the infant being taunted with the words – “Aw, poor baby.” 

That was the evidence of Dylan Olney who lived next door to Karen Harrington at Elderwood Park, Boreenmanna Road. 38-year-old Karen Harrington of Lakelands Crescent, Mahon, Cork, denies the murder of Santina Cawley at Elderwood Park on July 5, 2019.

The witness said that in an interaction he had with the accused that morning “she was like someone possessed”. Another witness, Martin McSweeney, thought Karen Harrington was drunk in the early hours of that morning, talking to herself, saying: “They think it is a joke, Karen. I’ll show them. I’ll show them.” 

Mr Olney heard a commotion at 2am on July 5, 2019, and footsteps on the timber gangway outside. Defence senior counsel Brendan Grehan said in cross-examination to the witness: “Where you describe taunting, there was no taunting by Karen Harrington. She was not taunting a child inside as you describe. Do you understand?” Mr Olney replied, “No.” 

Mr Grehan SC said: “Karen Harrington was asleep for practically the whole time between 4 and 5am.” In his direct evidence, Mr Olney said: “The next thing I heard was an almighty commotion – things getting broken and thrown around the place from next door, Karen Harrington’s apartment. A commotion like someone throwing a fit or a tantrum, throwing stuff around.

I heard repetitive banging, repetitive thumping. I went out to investigate. It was a person banging open and closed the sliding door. It was Ms Harrington doing the smashing open and closing of her door. I said, ‘Listen, you f***ing dingbat, you better stop that or I will call the guards.’ 

“I went into my own place. There was not much after that. She said, ‘Go ahead, call them’. I could hear her say, ‘Call them, call them’. Mysteriously, she appeared in the garden down below, saying, “Dylan, call ‘em’,” Mr Olney said.

He said another witness heard a reference to ‘Colm’ but he said that what he heard was ‘Call ‘em’. “I was a bit creeped out by it. She was acting weird. She was acting crazy,” he said, adding that the way she said, ‘Call ‘em’, was creepy to him.

“The next thing she was back at my door asking me for a lighter for a cigarette. I said, ‘You are not getting anything from me.’ I closed the door on her and locked it.

“The next thing I heard – I heard a child crying. Just a child crying, coming from next door – Number 26. That concerned me. It was not a crazy, painful crying. I did not think a child should be crying in that kind of situation. I could hear voices. I could hear taunting – (witness uttered the next words in a mocking tone) ‘Poor baby, are you alright?’ It was not very nice. It was muffled, like.

Karen Harrington at the Central Criminal Court in Cork today. The witness said Ms  Harrington was in her pyjamas on the night in question and looked very distressed and upset and kept apologising, saying she did not mean to be shouting and causing so much trouble. Photo: Dan Linehan

“I said I am going to call the cops. I did not like it. I heard her saying, ‘Stop crying.’ I heard her say, ‘Stop crying. Shut up.’ That kind of thing."

Under cross-examination, Mr Grehan said Mr Olney never mentioned a child to gardaí. He replied: “I probably did. I went down to let the guards in. The guards said, ‘Nobody is answering. We don’t have a warrant. We will have to go away. Come back to us if there is anything else.’ At that stage you could hear a pin drop,” he said.

Prosecution senior counsel, Seán Gillane, asked Mr Olney about the effect of the taunting. Mr Olney replied: “It made it worse. That is not how to comfort a crying child. It is the opposite. ‘Aw poor baby’, sarcastic, and ‘Shut up’, that kind of thing.” 

Mr Olney said that afterwards, a man he associated with Karen Harrington from next door, came along the gangway outside. The witness said he said to the man: “What the hell is going on. What’s the story with your one? There is an awful fuss coming out of there. I called the police and everything’. 

"He appeared relaxed, happy enough, nothing out of the ordinary. He later saw this man saying over and over, inconsolably, ‘My baby is dead.’

This morning's evidence

A witness in the Santina Cawley murder trial testified that she heard the accused woman repeatedly saying in the early hours of the morning in question: “I am telling, I am telling.” 

Karen Harrington, aged 38, of Lakelands Crescent, Mahon, Cork, denies the murder of Santina Cawley at Elderwood Park, Boreenamanna Rd, on July 5, 2019.

Neighbour Aoife Niamh McGaley said she has known Ms Harrington since they were teenagers and lived for a few years in an apartment neighbouring Ms Harrington’s at Elderwood Park.

Aoife Niamh McGaley at the Central Criminal Court in Cork today. She knew Karen Harrington since they were teenagers and lived for a few years in an apartment neighbouring Ms Harrington’s at Elderwood Park. Picture: Dan Linehan

Ms McGaley testified today at the trial in the Central Criminal Court in Cork: “Around 3-ish I heard arguing. It sounded like it was arguing between a man and a woman. Voices were kind of muffled. A bit after that I heard Karen screaming — ‘I am going to tell ‘em’.

“I heard glass smash. She is screaming at some guy, Colm, and some guy, Dylan, to get the guards — she was going to tell them, she was going to tell them everything.” 

Ms McGaley said by going to her own balcony, she could bang on the glass door of Ms Harrington’s apartment to see if she was OK, as what she heard was “completely out of character for her". 

I was genuinely concerned for Karen’s safety… I could make out someone sobbing. I immediately started beating down the door. I was kicking it. 

"She responded, ‘Is that the guards?’,” said Ms McGaley, adding that she told Ms Harrington it was her and that the accused opened the door for her.

She said Ms Harrington was in her pyjamas and looked distressed, upset, and kept apologising, saying she did not mean to be shouting and causing so much trouble.

At one stage, the witness said, Karen Harrington looked in a bedroom door like she was checking something in the room.

When she turned to come back out I noticed a mark on her face. I noticed her hair was ripped out — it looked like a chunk of it. Her hair looked like someone had grabbed her hair and pulled it… 

"She had a giant Betty Boop statue that Karen absolutely loved — it was smashed. There was a hurley and GAA helmet.

“I got the impression she was scared of something, I cannot explain it, I got this uneasy feeling for her… I was not happy about the situation at all… I went back to my apartment. I heard her arguing with someone with a very deep voice. It was a male… Unless it was a woman with a very deep voice,” she said.

At 3.42am that morning, Ms Harrington rang MsMcGaley and asked for a lighter. Ms McGaley said she did not have one, to which the accused replied, according to the witness, “Oh no bother, girl.” 

The witness said she was in touch with an Australian friend who asked her why she was up so late in Cork. Ms McGaley told her: “Because I live in The Bronx.”

One woman was excused from further participation as a juror in the case by Mr Justice Michael McGrath and the trial continues before a jury of four women and seven men.