LAST UPDATE | 18 Jun 2019
TWO 14-YEAR-old boys have been found guilty of the murder of schoolgirl Ana Kriegel.
One of the boys, known as Boy A, has also been found guilty of aggravated sexual assault.
The jury returned its verdict at 2.13pm today following a trial that lasted seven weeks, having spent over 14 hours deliberating.
The jury returned to the courtroom shortly after 2pm this afternoon, having been deliberating for over 14 hours.
The forewoman’s hand shook as she passed the piece of paper containing the verdicts to the court registrar.
From there, she confirmed that the jury of eight men and four women had unanimously come to three guilty verdicts.
Sat at the back of the courtroom, Boy B turned to his mother and asked: “I’m guilty?” The mother hugged her son while his father became noticeably upset. At times, he began directing expletives at gardaí and the court.
The family hugged for a number of minutes before Boy B was brought into custody.
Boy A’s family were sat in the corner of the room. The family wept as the verdicts were read out.
The two teen boys will be held in custody in Oberstown detention centre in Dublin until they are sentenced in four weeks’ time.
Mr Justice Paul McDermott thanked the jury for its service and excused the members from serving on another jury for life.
After the verdict was read out, the father of Boy B shouted out in court.
Neither boy was identified during the trial due to their age.
Ana Kriegel, who was 14 years old, went missing on Monday 14 May 2018 and her body was found naked in an abandoned house between Lucan and Leixlip three days later.
A post-mortem revealed serious and extensive injuries to Ana’s head and neck.
Trial
Ana’s mother described during the trial how her daughter had been bullied at school, subjected to an assault and received an online death threat in the months leading up to her death.
She told the court she returned home on the day of her disappearance to find that her daughter was not there, something prosecuting senior counsel Brendan Grehan said was “very unusual” for her.
He said Ana’s mother also found it strange that she left in the company of Boy B – someone prosecution counsel said had never been to the house before.
The jury heard how Ana’s family had searched for her in the hours after her disappearance before going to the local garda station. Her mother said she had texted Ana a number of times asking for her to come home and to tell her where she was. She received no response.
Gardaí responded immediately and ascertained Boy B’s address. They went to his house that night, and he told officers he called for Ana and they went to a local park and he hadn’t seen her since. He did not mention Boy A at this stage.
Gardaí continued to make inquiries and the search intensified over the coming days.
Gardaí again visited Boy B and at that stage he said he called for her on behalf of his friend Boy A and that he and Ana had met Boy A that day.
Grehan said that Boy B said he knew Ana was interested in Boy A and that the suggested purpose of their meeting was that Boy A could tell Ana he was not interested in her.
Gardaí then made contact with Boy A who gave a different account of what happened on the day, according to the prosecution.
Both boys were asked to point out where they had met in the park and routes they had taken, and it was then discrepancies in their accounts began to emerge.
As part of the trial, the jury was shown video footage of interviews Boy B gave on 24 May and 25 May 2018 at a garda station. It was also given details of evidence found on Boy A’s phone.
The court heard that Ana’s blood and DNA was found on a mask discovered in Boy A’s house. Images of the scene where Ana Kriegel was found were shown to the jury. The teenager’s body was found in a derelict property by gardaí searching for her after she was reported missing. Her body was found lying on the floor of the room, the jury was told.
On day four of the trial, the jury was shown CCTV evidence showing Boy A and Boy B walking together through an estate at 4.11pm on the day of disappearance.
On that date, 15 May, both boys gave statements to Leixlip Garda Station. The court was told today there were some inconsistencies in the accounts they provided to gardaí the previous day when asked exactly which route they took with her through a local park on the day she was last seen.
The court heard that on the day Ana went missing, Boy A’s parents said he came home rattled and shaking. He told them that two men attacked him in the park near where Ana’s body would later be found.
They went to Garda Headquarters in the Phoenix Park and gave a statement. No CCTV evidence of the men described by Boy A was found by gardaí.
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