Murder accused 'did not condone' Scarlett Faulkner attack

A woman on trial for the murder of Scarlett Faulkner told gardaí she did not condone what happened to Ms Faulkner and said she was not responsible.

The jury in the trial of the 41-year-old who denies the charge has been watching videos of the woman's garda interviews in the days after the incident at Birdhill in which Ms Faulkner suffered fatal injuries.

The woman told gardaí, "I don't know why I'm here because I did not do a thing".

Speaking about her husband, she said the "low life scumbag is after f***ing up that many people's lives".

The woman said her husband had only been with Ms Faulkner for a couple of days, having left her a week previously.

She told gardaí she felt very angry, saying "when he did all this to me, I'm the victim."

She said she did not say in any way that what happened to Ms Faulkner was right.

"She went off with a married man but he was the one who had to answer to us, not that girl," she added.

Telling gardaí that she did not do anything, she said, "He was the one with the big hatchet, he was the one who went off with another woman. It was wrong what happened to the girl.

"I do not condone that in any way, that girl had no ties to me, she was wrong to go with a married man but she wasn't the one who was married to me and didn't know my children, he did," she added.

She said before her husband left, "I was supposed to be his whole world, he used to say I don't just love you, I'm infatuated with you."

She told gardaí she had left school after third year to marry at the age of 16.

She said her husband had made a laugh of her by having another woman in a trailer he had bought for her and her children and that he had taken her van to go "around every crack house to buy drugs for Scarlett".

There was no turning back when she found out he was with Ms Faulkner, she said.

Asked by gardaí if she still loved her husband, she said "You can't just turn off your love". But then added it was over after that.

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Read more: Scarlett Faulkner murder accused says she 'never put a finger' on her

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She also said her 17-year-old co-accused hit Ms Faulkner "a couple of raps with a stick and there was no way possible" she could have sustained the injuries from a stick.

She said her husband had a hatchet and she did not know if he had hit Ms Faulkner with it but he was the only one with a hatchet.

She also said Ms Faulkner had been hit by a silver car and video from the scene would show that she never got back up.

She said her husband had also come after her with a hatchet at Birdhill and tried to strike her, telling her, "I will kill you stone dead."

He had also broken windows in their car and "ran the girls down the road", according to the accused.

She told gardaí there was video footage of everything that happened if they wanted to know.

She said on the day of the incident at Birdhill, she was on her way to collect her belongings when she encountered her husband in a van and he rammed her car.

She added that before her brain could register what was happening, he jumped out and started breaking the windows of the car.

She said he had been flashing his lights and taunting them while driving near them.

Ms Faulkner died on 13 April after an incident at Birdhill in Co Tipperary on 21 March.

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

Her 41-year-old co-accused has pleaded not guilty to murder.

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

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

The trial continues before Mr Justice Kerida Naidoo and a jury.