A jury in the trial of Nikita Burns has heard from a witness who claims he saw her with clothes covered in blood.

Ms Burns, of Carrick, County Donegal, is on trial for the murder of Robert Wilkin; alongside her co-accused, Alan Vial of Drumanoo, Killybegs.

They have pleaded 'not guilty'.

On the night of June 25th, 2023, Gavin Mitchell told the jury that Ms Burns called over to the apartment he was staying in in Letterkenny.

She used to live there too.

Mr Mitchell described her as being “very anxious, scared looking, shocked and upset.”

He told the jury she told him she had killed somebody; that she had battered his face in with a stone.

He said she told him she was with some boy called Alan, who broke the man’s nose after he sexually assaulted her in a car.

Mr Mitchell said she told him they threw him off a cliff.

He said there was blood all over the bottom of her leggings, so he gave her a chage of clothes.

Under cross-examination, he said he did not believe her initially because he believed she had taken drugs and was wired.

Mr Vial's brother speaks to jury

The brother of Alan Vial has told the jury he called over to his home on the day in question to clean his car.

Bruce Vial told the jury that a few days before the alleged murder, he remembers his brother and Robert Wilkin having, “a bit of an altercation” in his home.

He said they were aggressive towards one another but that it didn’t turn physical.

He said the next time he met his brother was the afternoon of the alleged murder, when he and Nikita Burns called over to clean a black VW Passat.

He said they used his hoover, as well as various cleaning sprays and cloths.

When they were finished, he said he noticed the vacuum cleaner was full of red gunk, that he assumed was vomit.

He said there was also a noticeable crack on the windscreen, which wasn’t there when they arrived in the car with Robert Wilkin a few days beforehand.

It is the prosecution’s case that the car was being cleaned after Alan Vial and Nikita Burns had murdered Mr Wilkin, and disposed of the body.

Main image: The Central Criminal Court of Dublin. Picture by: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie