A 16-year-old girl struck Scarlett Faulkner, 29, eleven times on the head with an iron bar, a special weekend court sitting has heard

A 16-year-old girl struck a woman 11 times on the head with an iron bar, a special weekend court sitting has heard.

The teenager allegedly laughed when gardai (Irish police) later showed her a photograph of Scarlett Faulkner, 29, seriously injured following the attack, investigating gardai told Limerick District Court.

Ms Faulkner, a member of a Traveller family from Longpavement, Limerick, was found by gardai with critical head injuries at the side of the R494 road, just outside the village of Birdhill, Co Tipperary, on Saturday (March 21), the Irish Mirror reports.

The 16-year-old - who was arrested in connection with the attack last Thursday - appeared before Saturday night’s sitting charged with one count of assault causing serious harm to Ms Faulkner.

A 40-year-old woman also appeared in court, charged with four offences connected to the alleged assault, including violent disorder, reckless endangerment and burglary.

Judge Carol Anne Coolican imposed reporting restrictions on both accused, meaning they cannot be publicly identified.

Gardai told the court that officers from East Clare and North Tipperary divisions responded to a report of a violent assault near Birdhill on the afternoon of March 21.

Ms Faulkner was airlifted to University Hospital Limerick and later transferred to Cork University Hospital, where she remains in a "critical condition" with "life-threatening injuries", gardai said.

Gardai told contested bail hearings for each of the two accused females that, prior to the on Ms Faulkner, the adult accused burgled and smashed up a caravan and that the accused girl filmed the attack on the caravan.

Investigators claimed that the woman had been searching for Ms Faulkner and a male companion in a van for 24 hours prior to the attack.

Gardai alleged the woman pursued the van for a number of miles and that she eventually rammed the van on the R494 road, forcing it to stop. They told the court dashcam footage and CCTV footage from cars and security cameras supported their evidence.

Following the collision, Ms Faulkner was seen fleeing from the van, running along the R494 towards a roundabout, when the teenage girl allegedly attacked her, gardai said. Video footage was said to show the girl exiting the woman’s car with a weapon and striking Ms Faulkner at least 11 times on the head while she lay on the roadside.

"Each injury is sustained to the head. Eleven blows to the head can be observed on CCTV," a garda told the court. The garda described the attack as "callous".

The garda said the girl showed a "complete lack of empathy" by laughing when she was later shown a still image of Ms Faulkner at the scene.

Gardai told the court they believe another young person at the scene filmed the attack on a mobile phone. It is alleged that, following the assault, the accused girl threw the iron bar at the man who had been travelling with Ms Faulkner.

Neither accused responded to the charges. Security was tight at the night-time court sitting, with entry to the courthouse restricted. Uniformed and plain-clothes gardai maintained a heavy presence inside the court. Solicitors for both accused said their clients would abide by any bail conditions.

Gardai objected to bail, citing concerns that each accused would commit serious offences or fail to abide by bail conditions if released.

Judge Coolican said she was satisfied to refuse bail for both, while noting each accused is entitled to a "presumption of innocence".

The teenage girl was remanded to a youth detention facility, and the woman to a remand prison, to appear via videolink at Tipperary District Court in Thurles on April 1.