Woman remanded further on bail over murder of girl (2) in Cork

A 35-year-old woman has been further remanded on bail charged with murdering a two-year-old child in Cork as gardaí confirmed they had forwarded a full file on the case to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on Thursday.

Karen Harrington of Elderwood Park, Boreenamanna Road, Cork was back at Cork District Court on Friday charged with the murder of Santina Cawley at Elderwood Park, Boreenamanna Road on July 5th, 2019.

Sgt Gearóid Davis confirmed to Judge Olann Kelleher that the file on the case had been forwarded to the DPP on Thursday as he applied for a continuing remand on bail for Ms Harrington.

Ms Harrington’s solicitor Eddie Burke confirmed that his client was consenting to a month long remand and Judge Kelleher remanded her on bail to appear again on November 29th.

At an earlier hearing last month, Judge Kelleher was told that gardaí have taken some 200 statements and followed up on some 430 lines of inquiry as part of their investigation.

On that occasion, Mr Burke said the defence was at loggerheads with the State over how long the matter had been going on without a book of evidence being served on his client.

Mr Burke said 42 days was allowed for service of a book of evidence from the time of the DPP giving directions but they had exceeded that limit by some 16 days at that point.

On Friday Mr Burke said he believed the case was not a matter for the DPP’s directions on where the case should be tried as the sole charge of murder could only be tried at the Central Criminal Court.

However he confirmed that he was consenting to an extension of the period of time for service of the book of evidence against his client who obtained bail recently in the High Court.