I heard accused say ‘I’m telling’ to person with a deep voice..
Witness in tot murder trial tells of row in flat
A WITNESS in a murder trial testified she heard the defendant say: “I am telling. I am telling” on the day the toddler was critically injured.
Aoife Niamh Mcgaley was giving evidence at the Central Criminal Court where Karen Harrington denies killing Santina Cawley in July 2019.
Santina, who was two, died in hospital a few hours after she was found with multiple injuries at a flat in Cork.
Ms Mcgaley, a neighbour of Harrington in Elderwood Park in the city, said at 3am on July 5 she heard her arguing with a person with a deep voice whom she assumed to be a male.
She told the jury: “The woman, who sounded like Karen, said, “I am going to tell them all. I’m going to tell’.”
The witness added she went to Harrington’s apartment and banged on the door. She said the situation was “out of character” for the accused.
Ms Mcgaley told the court: “I started beating down the door.
I was very concerned. I was kicking it. She said, ‘Is that the guards?’ I said, ‘No it’s me’.
“She looked very distressed. She kept apologising saying, ‘I didn’t mean to be shouting and causing trouble’.”
The witness said Harrington poked her head in a door as if she was looking at something.
Ms Mcgaley saw no sign of any other persons. She stated she saw a mark on the accused’s face and hair had been ripped out. Jurors were further told a statue of Harrington’s had been smashed.
She asked about the breaking glass and the defendant, who was in a relationship with Santina’s dad Michael Cawley, said she accidentally smashed a glass.
Ms Mcgaley said: “I was tired and annoyed. I said, ‘Really? A drinking glass?’ I didn’t believe it. She just apologised’.”
She added she got the impression Harrington was scared. The witness added: “I got this uneasy feeling for her. I didn’t see anyone but I wasn’t happy.”
Harrington’s neighbour Dylan Olney told the jury yesterday he went to bed at 2am. He added: “The next thing I heard was an almighty commotion. Things getting broken and thrown around in No 26. The walls are thin. I went out. The accused was smashing the sliding door open and closed. It was repetitive. I was annoyed. I didn’t want to go up.”
He went out and swore at Harrington and told her to stop.
Mr Olney said when he warned her he would call gardai, he claimed she replied, ‘Call them. I beg you call them’.
Mr Olney added he later heard a child crying at her apartment. He told the court, sitting in Cork: “That alarmed me. It wasn’t painful crying – just crying. I was concerned. I could hear taunting. The baby was
getting worse and crying. I heard what I heard.” He said he could hear her [Harrington] saying, ‘Poor baby alright’ in a “sarcastic” voice. Mr Olney gave evidence the child wasn’t being spoken to in a comforting manner and the crying got worse.
He told the court: “I think I heard her say, ‘Stop crying or shut up’. I made the decision to call the gardai.”
Officers responded at 4.31am and there was no sign of disturbance at the apartment and they left. Shortly afterwards Mr Olney said he saw Mr Cawley. He said: “I asked him, ‘What the hell is going on with your one?’ He didn’t seem inebriated.”
Mr Olney said Mr Cawley came out of the apartment distressed, shouting that his “daughter was dead”. He asked him to call gardai and an ambulance. The witness said: “He was roaring. He was inconsolable.”
Mr Olney said when gardai arrived they asked him, “What are we looking at? I said murder’.”the trial continues.
She [Harrington] looked very distressed. She kept saying, I didn’t mean to cause trouble AOIFE MCGALEY CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT YESTERDAY