TWO TEENAGE BOYS accused of attacking Alex Coughlan, who died after being severely injured in Blanchardstown, are to be tried for murder.

Coughlan (37) suffered serious injuries after he was assaulted on Mill Road at around 4.20pm on 17 May and was found unconscious.

He was brought to hospital in a critical condition, where he was pronounced dead on 20 May. A post-mortem has established that Coughlan suffered “traumatic” head and neck injuries.

Shortly after he passed away, gardaí charged two boys, aged 17 and 16, in connection with the incident.

The pair were originally accused of causing serious harm to Coughlan at Mill Road, under section 4 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act.

They were also charged with robbing him of his bank cards and a €300 gold ring.

Neither youth has indicated a plea.

The boys, who cannot be named because they are juveniles, remain in the Oberstown Children Detention Campus, having been refused bail earlier.

The case resumed before Judge Patricia Cronin at the Dublin Children’s Court on Monday. They appeared separately: the younger boy by video link and the older teen in person.

An interpreter was requested but not required, the judge noted.

Garda Alan Kernan told the court that the 17-year-old’s assault causing harm charge was being withdrawn. It was superseded with a murder charge, and the boy “made no reply” when it was put to him on Monday morning.

The robbery charge is to remain.

He added that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has directed trial in the Central Criminal Court.

The judge told the teenager that she could not hear a bail application in a murder case which must be dealt with by the High Court.

The boy was remanded in continuing custody pending the preparation of a book of evidence by prosecutors. He will appear again next week.

Accompanied to court by his solicitor Darren Gray, he asked to appear via video link.

His mother sat at the back of the courtroom, and the judge noted from Gray that she had some English and that he had explained the procedures to her. She hugged and kissed the teenager before he was taken back into custody.

The 16-year-old co-accused then appeared remotely from the detention centre. Garda Shane Costello confirmed to defence solicitor Brian Keenan that the DPP has issued the same direction for that teenager, who is also to face trial on a murder charge. He was remanded in continuing custody to appear again later this week.

The judge noted that the matter will fall under the juvenile protocol, a measure setting a strict 12-month time limit to complete the trial process from the date of the initial charge.

An earlier bail hearing was told that Coughlan had injuries to his neck area, scrapes to his knees and elbows, which corroborated that he was on his knees pleading with his attacker, and he had “no defensive injuries”.

He suffered severe bruising, and there was evidence of alleged suffocation and choking.

Garda Sergeant Emma Ryan agreed it was a sustained assault, and footage was available. She described it as a small snippet which was taken from the 16-year-old boy’s phone and “showed the deceased on his knees begging for his life.”

The court heard it was an arranged meeting but set up under false pretences for the purpose of committing robbery and extortion offences, and no other motive.

Garda Sergeant Ryan had said Coughlan was walking down the road before the pair blocked him. The court heard the second teenager punched him, and he fell but tried to run, was pursued, and received kicks and punches.

It was alleged that the older co-accused told him, “I will smash the fuck out of you, you fucking little bitch”, and the 16-year-old demanded his gold ring.

A witness reported that Coughlan was on his knees “crying and pleading to the two males”.

His AIB and Revolut cards were used in local shops minutes later, and the gold ring his father gave Coughlan was taken and worn by the younger defendant, it was claimed.

The sergeant maintained that the 16-year-old boy still had it on him at the time of his arrest on 19 May.

The sergeant was concerned that the teenager considered the deceased prey, and his number was saved on the co-accused youth’s phone as “Prey 2″.