ONE OF THE boys accused of murdering Ana Kriegel told gardaí he believed that Boy A was not attacked by two men as he claimed and that he believed that Ana had inflicted the injuries on him, a court has heard.
Giving evidence at the Central Criminal Court, Detective Garda Marcus Roantree described two conversations he had with Boy B on the day Ana’s body was found.
Two boys, known as Boy A and Boy B, have pleaded not guilty to Ana’s murder. 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.
Ana’s body was discovered in a disused house three days after she disappeared in May last year.
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.
Detective Garda Roantree said that he arrived at the home of Boy B a number of hours after Ana’s body was found. At that point, Boy B said he was nervous as he was one of the last people to be seen with her.
Later that evening, Boy B was talking to Detective Garda Roantree about allegations that Boy A was attacked by two men the day Ana disappeared.
Boy B told gardaí that it was his opinion that if two larger adults attacked Boy A, then there would be more marks on his face. He then said that he believed that Ana caused the injuries to Boy A, according to Detective Garda Roantree.
Boy B later gave gardaí his mobile phone which was then handed over to an exhibits garda.
Detective Garda Roantree told the court: “He said he was nervous as he had heard Ana had been found and that he was nervous because he was one of the last to be seen with her.”
Boy B detailed to gardai that he had called for Ana on behalf of Boy A because Boy A wanted to tell Ana he was not romantically interested in her. Boy B said that when he and Ana were in the park she had shown him a photo of her sitting on a chair tied up and blindfolded. Boy B said Ana claimed that it was ex-boyfriend who took that photograph, the court heard.
Detective Garda Roantree also described how he took photos and a voluntary DNA swab from Boy A’s cheek. This was done with the permission of his parents. The swab was taken as Garda Roantree was initially investigating the alleged assault of Boy A and he told the court it is standard garda practice to take such a sample.
During this procedure, Roantree gave evidence that while at the garda station Boy A said Ana had put her hand across his shoulder and chest and that this may be helpful.
Garda Roantree said he took photos of bruises to Boy A’s back as well as other areas Boy A said he was injured.
The jury was then shown a number of photographs taken by Garda Roantree of the alleged injuries.
Parents of Boy A testimony
The trial also heard from the parents of Boy A. They told the trial today that their son was rattled and shaking when he came home on the day of Ana’s disappearance.
Boy A told his parents that two men had attacked him in the park near where Ana’s body would later be found.
The mother of Boy A said her son came home from school, got changed and headed out on the day of Ana’s disappearance. She assumed he was calling in for friends of his, the court heard.
She said that shortly after 6pm, he came home and that Boy A called them both to his room.
The mother said: “He was very, very pale and shaking. He looked rattled and shaken. I noticed he had a spot of blood on his chest area and there was a tiny bit of blood on inside of his lip.”
She added that there was a small patch of blood on his left knee and there was also a cut underneath it.
The mother said her son was also limping and had aggravated an earlier injury to his wrist.
He told his parents that he had been attacked by two men.
His father then brought Boy A in his car to see if his son could identify the two accused. The father said there was a number of youths around the park at the time but none of them were positively identified by his son as the attackers.
Evofit evidence
The court also heard that both Boy A and his mother went to Garda Headquarters in the Phoenix Park on Thursday 17 May.
Detective Garda Mairéad Crowley gave evidence to the court and said Boy A gave detailed descriptions of both of the men he alleged assaulted him. Detective Garda Crowley said she spent over three hours creating two separate Evofit pictures (digital photofits) of the alleged assailants.
She said that, during his descriptions, Boy A said one of the assailants looked like an “inner city type”.
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