'I don't know how much more they can take': Faulkner family hit by fresh heartache

A 10-year-old cousin of the Faulkner family is in critical condition after a road accident in Belfast

Scarlett was attacked, allegedly with an iron bar, in Co Tipperary on March 21, and died on April 13. Jason Faulkner died just days after his sister. Picture: Brendan Gleeson

The family of Scarlett and Jason Faulkner have asked people to “pray” for the recovery of a cousin seriously injured in a fatal two-car collision.

The collision, which occurred in Belfast on Sunday morning, resulted in serious injuries to the boy.

On Monday, the Police Services of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said a boy aged 10 injured in the crash remained in a “critical condition”.

A 16-year-old boy from Tipperary, who was a passenger in the same car as the seriously injured boy, died in the collision. The driver of the car sustained minor injuries, while another young male passenger was also injured and taken to hospital.

The driver of the other car, a black Volkswagen Golf, was arrested “on suspicion of a number of offences”, said the PSNI.

The Faulkner family, from Longpavement, Limerick, were already grieving the loss of siblings Scarlett Faulkner (29) and Jason Faulkner (30s), who died within a week of one another.

Scarlett was attacked, allegedly with an iron bar, in Co Tipperary on March 21, and died on April 13. Jason Faulkner died just days after his sister.

Members of the Faulkner family, friends and neighbours, were to attend a vigil in Limerick on Monday evening to pray for their cousin and the other passengers injured in Sunday’s collision.

In a video posted on TikTok, Joanne (Josephine) Duffy, a partner of Thomas Faulkner, who is a first cousin of the critically injured boy, asked for prayers for the injured youths. 

Ms Duffy said: “Thomas’s cousin’s little boy is in a critical condition, but he is holding up well on his own, so the family want as much prayers as they can, if ye can pray for the family, if ye can light a candle, they will really really appreciate it.

“I actually don't know what to say, because the family are genuinely distraught, they’re going through so much,” Ms Duffy said.

“This is the third Sunday in a row that the Faulkner family is after getting bad news, and I actually don't know how much more they can take,” she said.