Two boys found guilty of Ana Kriegel murder

DUBLIN: Two 14-year-old boys have been found guilty of the murder of 14-year-old Ana Kriegel in Co Dublin last year.

Both boys have been granted anonymity due to their age, and were referred to as Boy A and Boy B throughout the trial. Boy A has also been found guilty of aggravated sexual assault. The jury of eight men and four women deliberated for 14 hours and 25 minutes, after a six-week trial in Dublin’s Central Criminal Court.

Ana Kriegel’s naked body was found with a ligature around the neck in a derelict house in Lucan, Co Dublin, days after the 14 year-old went missing on May 14, 2018. Former state pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy identified around 50 areas of injury on the schoolgirl’s head and body, and concluded the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head and neck.

The jury foreman’s hand shook as she handed over papers to the court clerk, before stating they had found both boys guilty on all the charges facing them respectively.Justice Paul McDermott thanked the jury who he said “were brought off the street to consider these matters, which is all the more reason to express deep appreciation to you, I can’t offer you anything but most the most sincere gratitude and excuse you all”.

After the verdict, Ana’s parents, Patric and Geraldine Kriegel hugged each other and their friends and wept in the court room. Outside court, Kriegel told media that their daughter Ana was “our strength”. Her mother said: “Ana was a dream come true for us, and she always will be. She’ll stay in our hearts forever loved and forever cherished. We love you, Ana.”

Both boys have been remanded in detention until July 15. Justice McDermott asked for both boys’ school reports as well as a number of social work reports. Boy B’s defence counsel told the jury that the boy, who was accused of luring Ana to the site of her death, was “set up” by his co-accused. Boy B told the officers that after he returned home from school that day, Boy A called to his house and asked him to call for Ana.

He said he thought Boy A wanted to tell Ana he did not want a relationship with her, as someone had previously told him Ana liked Boy A. “At first I said no but then he started saying ‘please, please, please’. At last I agreed.”

After a number of interviews, Boy B admitted he had been in the house with Ana and Boy A but ran away when Boy A began raping Ana. The court also heard a number of items were seized from Boy B’s house including adhesive tape that was the same brand found around Ana’s neck.