Scarlett Faulkner accused said she ‘didn’t lay a finger on that girl’ during Nenagh Garda Station interview

A 41-year-old woman accused of murdering her husband's new girlfriend, Scarlett Faulkner, told gardai the deceased was "wrong to go with a married man," but she didn't condone what happened to her.

During interviews at Nenagh Garda Station earlier this year, the woman, who denies Ms Faulkner's murder, said she couldn't understand why she had been arrested in circumstances where she said her husband had rammed her off a road and tried to cut her head off with an axe. "That's attempted murder," she said, adding: "He did all this to me, I'm the victim, not him."

She said she had done nothing wrong and swore that she "didn't lay a finger on that girl". She also told gardai that if Scarlett had been hit with a hatchet, "the only person that had a hatchet at all times" was her husband.

She also said: "I do not say in any way shape or form that what happened to her [Scarlett] was right. She was off with a married man, but he was the one who had to answer to us, not that girl... 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."

A 17-year-old girl is on trial also accused of 28-year-old Ms Faulkner's murder. The older accused said she saw her co-accused hit Ms Faulkner "a couple of tips" with a stick, adding: "There's no way she could have sustained those injuries with a stick."

She said she was heartbroken when she found out about her husband, the father of her children, being with another woman. When asked what she thought of Scarlett being with him, she said: "It's nothing new. It's her third time in ICU for being with married men. You would think she would have respect."

She said Scarlett was only with him because he could get crack cocaine for her, and that she would be "onto the next victim" if he had failed to get what she wanted.

The 41-year-old woman has pleaded not (NOT) guilty to Ms Faulkner's murder while the 17-year-old has pleaded not (NOT) guilty to Ms Faulkner's murder, but guilty to manslaughter. They are both on trial at the Central Criminal Court.In his opening speech, Seoirse Ó Dúnlaing SC, prosecuting, told the jury that the motive for the attack was the new relationship with Ms Faulkner. Mr Ó Dúnlaing said the prosecution would seek to prove that the accused "hunted down" her husband and Ms Faulkner for 24 hours up to about 5.20pm on March 21 last.

He said that she "rammed" her husband's van until both vehicles came to a stop near the Birdhill roundabout just off the M7 in Tipperary, between Limerick and Nenagh. The prosecution alleges that the 17-year-old inflicted all the injuries to Ms Faulkner using an iron bar. The older woman is alleged to have been engaged in a joint enterprise to kill or cause serious injury to her husband and Ms Faulkner.

Det Gda Seamus Kelly today (FRI) told Mr Ó Dúnlaing that gardai arrested the older accused on March 26 last, at a time when Ms Faulkner was still in a coma.

When detectives explained to the accused that she had been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause serious harm, Det Gda Kelly said she replied that her husband and Ms Faulkner were "the ones who did that". She said she didn't understand why she had been arrested and described her husband as a "low-life scumbag" who was "after f**king up that many people's lives". She said before her husband "went off" with Ms Faulkner, "I was supposed to be his whole world. He used to say, 'I don't just love you, I'm infatuated with you'." She said other people would say that her husband was "obsessed" with her because "that's what he made people believe".

She said it breaks her heart, upsets and angers her to think of what her husband did, but, she said, when her anger comes out, she cries and then feels relief. "I wouldn't go and do what happened to that girl," she said. She said she and her husband had split up before, for a few days here and there, but he would always come begging to get back with her. This time was different, she said; he refused her calls, got a new phone number and started a new life. She said: "I wish him the best of luck with it. It was hard, but it was his downfall, not mine. I will never stoop to his level." While she said she couldn't "turn off" her love for her husband, she would never take him back.

She also said "the whole place is adamant" that Ms Faulkner had AIDS and "he knew that". She added: "I'm not just saying that because he went off with her. I hope he rots away in Limerick Prison and dies a slow, lingering death. He deserves it, don't he. And he feel the pain he put me through and my children."

Describing the day when Ms Faulkner suffered the fatal injuries, the accused said she wanted her husband to return the van he was driving, which belonged to her. "It's my van," she said. "He's using it to bring a crackhead around, to buy crack for her in my van." She said she called gardai that morning and told them that her husband was "driving around the country, robbing whatever he can for the price of crack for his new woman and himself".

She said if gardai had responded to her call that morning, "none of this would have happened", but added that she wasn't blaming the guards for her husband being a "lowlife tramp".

Later that day, she said she was driving her 7-seater Volkswagen when her husband went by in the van, flashing his lights and shouting abuse at her. She said he "rammed" her car by reversing into it and before her brain had registered what was happening, "he was out with a big hatchet breaking windows in on top of us".

She said she got out of the car and went to take the keys from the van but her husband told her he'd cut her head off. She didn't get the keys, she said.

The trial continues on Monday before Mr Justice Kerida Naidoo and eight women and four women.