LAST UPDATE | 28 May 2019

A BOY ACCUSED of murdering Ana Kriegel told gardaí that Boy A told him he wanted to kill the teenage girl a month before she was found dead in an abandoned house. 

The jury in the trial is being played recorded interviews between one of the accused, Boy B, and gardaí in July of last year. 

Two boys, known as Boy A and Boy B, have pleaded not guilty to the 14-year-old girl’s murder on 14 May 2018. Boy A has also been charged with aggravated sexual assault – a charge he also denies. Both boys were 13 years old at the time of the alleged offences.

It is being alleged by the prosecution that Boy A murdered Ana and sexually assaulted her. It is the prosecution’s case that Boy B assisted the murder and knew what was going to happen. 

Court

In the recordings heard today in court, Boy B told gardaí that he was in school when he was approached by Boy A around a month before Ana died. 

“I was in school by myself. He came up to me and said ‘hey, wanna kill somebody’. I said no. He replied with ‘ah, here. Why not’. [I said] because it’s retarded. I then asked him who he was planning to kill and he replied ‘Ana Kriegel’. I replied with ‘in your dreams’. Then he just went. I didn’t think he was being serious.”

Earlier in that interview, Boy B told gardaí that he had called over for Ana on behalf of Boy A.

Gardaí had told Boy B that they found a number of items in a backpack in Boy A’s house. They told him they found gloves, knee pads, shin pads, and a snood as well as a mask. Boy B, at first, told officers that he had seen the mask before in Boy A’s house but didn’t see it in the abandoned house on 14 May. 

In the recordings played today, he was asked by gardaí why Boy A’s bag contained a mask, gloves, knee pads and shin pads if he was there to deal with a relationship matter. The court previously heard that Boy A had asked Boy B to call in for Ana and to arrange to meet in the park. The reason given for this was that Boy A could tell Ana that he was not romantically interested in her.

Boy B responded: “He was planning to kill Ana – I didn’t know.” 

‘Get it all out’

The court heard today that interviewing Boy B, Detective Garda Dónal Daly said:

“It’s very important you tell us what you saw, what you actually saw – not what you might have seen.”

He added that the interview was Boy B’s chance “to get it all out”. He said that “now is your opportunity we can determine once and for all what happened in that room”.

Boy B was then asked again if Boy A was wearing the mask in the abandoned house. Boy B responded: “Yes.”

Boy B was asked how he knew that the person wearing the mask was Boy A. He said that only Boy A would have had that mask. He said he was in Boy A’s house a number of days prior to Ana’s death and that it was still in the house. 

Boy B earlier told gardaí that he saw his co-accused flip Ana to the ground, choke her and start to remove her clothes. He previously told the officers that he left at this moment as he “realised Boy A was raping her and I had to run”.

Asked by gardaí why he didn’t try to stop the attack, Boy B said: “I didn’t know what to do. I was scared. My brain stopped working. The only thing I could think of to do was go home.” 

He said he was “ashamed” of himself that he was too scared to help Ana once he saw her being attacked. He said he was “horrified” and that he went home and tried to forget what he had seen. Boy B said he wanted to go “bring things back to the way they were”. 

Detective Garda Daly then accused Boy B of leading gardaí “on a merry dance” and that it was only on 25 May following his arrest, that he told officers he was actually at the abandoned house. Daly asked him why this was the case.

Boy B said: “I realised that for things to be right I had to tell you.”

The trial continues.