LAST UPDATE | 3 May 2022

A WITNESS IN the trial of a woman accused of murdering a two-year-old girl has said that he heard the sound of a crying baby next door with the infant becoming increasingly distressed as a female sarcastically taunted her.

Karen Harrington, of Lakelands Crescent in Mahon, Co Cork is on trial at a Central Criminal Court sitting charged with the murder of Santina Cawley at 26 Elderwood Park in Boreenmanna Road in Cork on 5 July 2019.

At the time of the alleged offence Harrington (37) was in a relationship with the father of the child Michael Cawley.

The toddler passed away in Cork University Hospital after being found in an apartment with extensive injuries.

She had sustained a fracture to the skull and ribs, a brain injury, bruises to almost every part of her body and an injury to her spine.

Harrington was living at 26 Elderwood Park in 2019. Her next door neighbour Dylan Olney, who lived in number 27, said that he want to bed at 2am on 5 July 2019. He started to hear a “commotion.”

“The next thing I heard was an almighty commotion. Things getting broken and thrown around the place in number 26.”

He said that it sounded like someone was having “a tantrum or throwing stuff around.”

Olney then gave evidence that he heard “repetitive banging” and “almighty thumping.”

“The walls are thin where I live. I went out. The accused person was smashing the sliding door open and closed. It was repetitive smashing open and closed. I was annoyed. I didn’t want to go up.”

He went out and swore at Harrington calling her a “dingbat” and telling her to stop.

Olney warned Harrington that he planned to call the gardai. He stated that Harrington replied “go ahead and call them”.

He told the jury that Harrington started shouting “Call them. Call them. I beg you call them. I was a bit freaked out by it. She was acting weird”.

He returned to his apartment. Olney said that at one point Harrington appeared at his door asking for a lighter for a cigarette. He told her to leave.

Then he heard a child crying at her apartment. This was a cause of concern for him.

“That alarmed me. I heard a child crying coming from next door at 26. That concerned me. It wasn’t painful crying — just crying. I was concerned. I didn’t think a child should be in that.

“I could hear taunting. The baby was getting worse and crying. I heard what I heard. I was concerned for the wellbeing of the child I heard crying.”

He said he could hear her (Harrington) saying ‘poor baby alright’ in a ‘sarcastic’ voice. Olney gave evidence that he child wasn’t being spoken to in a manner which would provide comfort and as a result the crying got worse.

“I heard her saying “stop crying. I think I heard her say ‘stop crying or shut up. I made the decision to call the gardai.”

The trial heard that gardai responded to a call at 4.31am on 5 July 2019. When they arrived at 4.52am there was no sign of disturbance at Harrington’s apartment and they left the scene.

Shortly afterwards Olney heard the sound of someone walking on the gangway. He went out and saw Michael Cawley, the father of the child, whom he only knew to see.

“I asked him ‘what the hell is going on?’ What the hell is going on with your one?’ He didn’t seem inebriated.”

Olney said Cawley went in to the apartment and he came out in a distressed state shouting that his “daughter was dead.” Cawley asked him to contact the Gardaí and call for an ambulance.

“He was roaring. He was inconsolable . I was trying to console him. He was very distraught.”

Olney called the gardai. When they arrived gardai asked Olney, “what are we looking at? I said murder”.

Earlier today, the trial heard from Harrington’s neighbour Aoife Niamh McGaley who said that on the morning when Santina was found critically injured, she heard Harrington arguing with with a a person with a deep voice whom she assumed to be a male.

“Karen’s voice was muffled but I could hear her clearly saying ‘I am telling. I am telling”.

McGaley said that she first met Harrington when she was a teenager.

At 1.27am on 5 July 2019 Harrington rang her phone asking her to let her in to the entrance of the apartment building. The code wasn’t working and Harrington thought she had forgotten her key.

However, Harrington found her keys and let herself in. McGaley said that there was a disruptive neighbour living in the apartment complex and when she heard arguing it was like “hearing rain outside.”

They were used to noise in the apartments and McGaley told the jury that she recalled texting a friend in Australia during the night saying that she was awake because where she lived was “like the Bronx.”

At 3am she said she heard a man arguing with a woman. The woman, who sounded like Harrington, was saying “I am going to tell them all. I am going to tell them all.”

McGaley said she jumped up and grabbed a nightdress and went to Harrington’s apartment. She banged on the glass of the sliding door. She said the situation was “completely out of character” for Harrington.

McGaley said she could hear muffled voices and a woman who sounded like Harrington saying “I will tell. I will tell.” She went to the main door of Harrington’s apartment where she heard sobbing.

“I started beating down the door. I was very concerned. I was kicking it(the door). She said ‘is that the guards and I said ‘No it’s me you spacer.’ She opened the door. She looked very distressed. She kept apologising saying ‘I didn’t mean to be shouting and causing trouble”.

She said Harrington poked her head in a door in the apartment as if she was looking at something.

McGaley saw no sign of any persons other than Harrington in the apartment. She stated that she saw a mark on Harrington’s face and noticed that hair had been ripped out of her head. She stated that it looked like a “chunk” of it had been removed. She also spotted that Harrington’s Betty Boop statue had been smashed. 

She asked Harrington about the sound of breaking glass which she had heard and Harrington told her that she had accidentally smashed a drinking glass in the kitchen.

“At this stage I was tired and annoyed. I said ‘really a drinking glass?’ I didn’t believe it. She just apologised.”

McGaley said that she got the impression that Harrington was scared.

“I got this uneasy feeling for her. I didn’t see anyone [else] but I wasn’t happy.”

Another neighbour, Martin McSweeney told the trial that he woke at around 3am on 5 July 2019 to the sound of a sliding door opening and closing thirty to forty times. He heard a man saying, “I am gong to call the cops you dingbat”.

At 5am, he heard a man wailing and shouting “My baby is dead.”

He said at one stage he thought Harrington might have died as he heard the gentleman say “My baby is dead.”

“I thought ‘Baby’ might have been a nickname for her.”

He had seen her earlier looking “drunk or on drugs”.

The case continues tomorrow.