A woman was helping her son escape his arrest and punishment for a serious assault on his then girlfriend, a court has heard.

Geraldine McMenamy (48) of Donamore Green, Tallaght, Dublin has pleaded not guilty to two charges of assisting an offender by impeding the apprehension or prosecution of her son Paul McMenamy at locations in Dublin on February 8, 2012.

A jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Paul McMenamy assaulted his then partner Nicola Murray on February 5, 2012. Three days later he was arrested at a hotel close to the airport with a one-way ticket for a flight to Manchester and €600 cash on him.

Gerard Clarke SC, prosecuting, said that it is the State's case that the accused took her son to the airport and gave him €400 cash to help him escape. Her son had already been arrested and questioned but was released without charge before his arrest at the airport.

Mr McMenamy later pleaded guilty to assault causing serious harm to Ms Murray and in 2013 he was sentenced to six years with one suspended. He was previously jailed in 2010 for an assault on another woman.

His mother told gardaí that on the morning after the 2012 assault, her son telephoned her and told her that Ms Murray had hit her head during a row the night before.

The accused went to the house and saw Ms Murray lying on the floor of the bedroom. She had two black eyes and her eyes were closed.

Ms McMenamy said her son told her the victim had hit her head while climbing over the bed to attack him with a knife.

"I didn't know what to believe, I kept saying I hope you didn't do this. I was really really upset," she told gardai in a statement.

She told them she suspected he had caused the injuries to the victim because of his history and said she was in fear of her son.

"I can't put my finger on it but there's something wrong with Paul. He punched me and threatened me with a knife. He told me he'd slit my throat".

She said that on a scale of one to ten she would put her fear of her son at 100.

She said that when he asked her and her husband to take him to the airport she was hesitant because she feared being "an accessory".

"Paul kept saying well I wasn't charged with anything. I'm a free man. I have to get out of the country or else I've to come back to your house," she told gardai. She said she told him he wasn't coming back to her house.

In March 2012, a month after making these statements to gardai, the accused told gardai she was not in fear of her son, saying: "I'm retracting my statement where I said I was afraid of Paul".

The trial continues before Judge Martin Nolan and will go into closing speeches today/tomorrow.

The accused told gardai that she held Ms Murray's hand as she lay unconscious on the floor.

"She kept kicking her legs out. I asked her to squeeze my hand if she could hear me. She did squeeze my hand." she told gardai.

"I rang my husband Paul. My husband said ring an ambulance. I told my son to do this. He said she'll be ok, to leave her for another while".

She said her son kept saying she'd be alright. She said when she left the house and got home she was physically sick.

The jury heard that she came back to the house later and saw that the victim was still unconscious and had wet herself. She helped change Ms Murray's clothes.

She said that Ms Murray's family showed up later and "all hell broke loose" and they began shouting and screaming at her son.

She told gardai: "I can't say why I didn't ring an ambulance. I'll never forgive myself for not doing it".