Accused was ‘a bit manic’ when she told friend she struck deceased

A woman accused of murdering a pensioner whose skull was fractured and his body allegedly thrown over Ireland’s tallest cliffs told gardaí she was “a bit manic” and was exaggerating when she told a friend she had hit the deceased over the head.

The trial also heard that Nikita Burns (23) told gardaí that her co-accused, Alan Vial (39), had struck the deceased man Robert ‘Robin’ Wilkin (66) six or seven times with a rock.

She described seeing Mr Vial with the rock in his hand, “smashing it off Robin’s head” while she told him to stop.

She said: “I saw blood going everywhere and Alan just kept hitting him and hitting him and I kept saying, that’s enough.” When Mr Vial stopped, she said, Mr Wilkin was dead and lay slumped between the car seats while Mr Vial drove to the cliffs at Sliabh Liag.

Ms Burns said Mr Vial had suggested they throw Mr Wilkin over the cliff. They drove for 30 minutes and when they got to the top, she said Mr Vial “dragged him [the deceased] over to the fence…