Scarlett Faulkner 'terrified' of woman accused of her murder

The 28-year-old believed her new boyfriend's ex-wife, who is on trial for her murder, was 'going to do something bad to her' in the hours before she was beaten to death, a witness has told the Central Criminal Court

Scarlett Faulkner died on April 13 following an incident at Birdhill, Co Tipperary, on March 21.

Scarlett Faulkner was "terrified" of her new boyfriend's ex-wife, who is on trial for her murder, and believed she was "going to do something bad to her" in the hours before she was beaten to death, a witness has told the Central Criminal Court.

The trial also heard on Wednesday that a passerby, Niamh Floyd, saw a woman at the scene of Ms Faulkner's alleged murder running towards the car in which she was a passenger. 

Ms Floyd described the woman holding onto the mirror of the car as the witness told her partner to drive away.

Looking through the car's rear window, Ms Floyd said she could see someone holding what might have been a weapon and moving towards the woman. 

She said she looked away, because she "didn't want to see what was going to happen after that". 

Ms Floyd said she and her partner called emergency services and said someone could be injured and an ambulance might be needed.

The trial also heard from a witness, who cannot be named for legal reasons, who said her then partner was a close friend of the married man Ms Faulkner had begun seeing. 

She said Ms Faulkner and her new boyfriend called to her apartment in Limerick City on March 21, the same day that the deceased received injuries that led to her death.

She told Seoirse Ó Dúnlaing, prosecuting, that Ms Faulkner spoke to her about her new relationship and said she "knew" her boyfriend's ex-wife was "going to do something bad to her" and that she was "terrified".

It is the prosecution's case that later that evening, the 41-year-old accused rammed her ex-husband's van off the road before a then 16-year-old girl beat Ms Faulkner to death with a metal pole.

Opening the case this week, Mr Ó Dúnlaing said that although the evidence will be that all the injuries suffered by the deceased were inflicted by the teenage girl, both the accused engaged in a joint enterprise to kill or cause serious harm. 

Mr Ó Dúnlaing said they had "hunted down" the accused woman's former husband and Ms Faulkner with the intention of causing serious harm to both of them.

The now 17-year-old, who cannot be identified because she is a minor, has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter.

Her co-accused pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Faulkner, aged 28, who died on April 13 following an incident at Birdhill, Co Tipperary, on March 21. 

She also pleaded not guilty to burglary, entering a building as a trespasser, and causing criminal damage at an address in Co Tipperary, on March 20.

She pleaded not guilty to a further charge of burglary and committing assault causing harm, at an address in Limerick on March 21.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Kerida Naidoo and a jury of eight men and four women.