A boy accused of Ana Kriégel's murder told detectives he saw his friend and co-accused choke the girl and take off her clothes as she pleaded with him to stop, the Central Criminal Court has heard.
Boy B was first arrested on May 24th, 2018 a week after Ana's body was found in an abandoned farmhouse in Lucan, Co Dublin. He was questioned for ten hours across five separate interviews.
In his initial interviews he said he had called to Ana on behalf of his co-accused, Boy A, on May 14th and had last seen her in near-by St Catherine’s Park in Lucan that evening.
By interview five Boy B had made several changes to his account, the court heard, culminating in him telling gardaí he was in the house where Ana was murdered and saw Boy A choke her and take off her clothes.
During the fifth interview Detective Garda Donal Daly repeatedly implored the boy to tell the truth. Noting that Boy B was a fan of Japanese anime cartoons, the detective said "this is not anime, it is real life".
The boy told gardaí he walked to the house with Boy A and Ana. He said he went into the house first, walked around and picked up a white stick in a corridor area. He put it down and walked out of the house where he saw Ana and Boy A walking in, he told gardaí.
‘Ran away’
Boy B said he went to follow them but Boy A told him “it’s fine”. He said he left, heard Ana “screech” and ran away as fast as he could.
Boy B said he went to the nearby park ranger’s hut, had a drink and a sit down and then went home, did his homework and watched a series. He added: “But I could barely sleep worrying about what happened.”
When he heard Ana was missing, “it hit my mind that (Boy A) was with her”, he said.
He added: “The next day (Boy A) had bruises on his back and injuries and I was wondering what happened and that is why I stopped talking to him.”
When he heard that Ana was found dead at the abandoned house he realised: “It was either (Boy A) or someone else. Since he was in the house my thought was that he ran away and something else happened to Ana but it turns out that wasn’t true.”
Det Gda Daly asked him to think back to the house, telling him: "I think you have a little more to tell us."
Boy B began again, saying while in the house he looked into a room with a carpet but didn’t see anything so he went outside.
Again, he said, he met Ana and Boy A who were now walking in. He followed them but, he said, Boy A told him he would be “okay”, so Boy B left. “That was the last time I saw (Boy A) and Ana that day.”
Asked if this was the carpeted room where Ana was murdered, Boy B said: “Yes. I looked in but didn’t go in.” He said he believed he was just at the house to support Boy A, “to just be there for him”.
Hug
The detective said he believed Boy B still wasn’t telling them everything. The boy said he saw Boy A put his arm around Ana and “kind of like” hug her. He said this was weird and he left because he thought something was about to happen.
He also told gardaí he saw Boy A “flip her and choke her”. He continued, “when I saw that, I instantly knew what was happening and I was just shook”.
He said Boy A started taking off Ana’s clothes before looking back at the door where Boy B was standing.
Asked again to tell the truth, Boy B said: “She was starting to cry a bit and she kept, like, saying ‘No, no, don’t do this’. Then he started taking off her clothes but I left before he got to take off her bra.”
He told gardaí “it looked horrifying”. He said Boy A was on top of Ana choking her as he took off her clothes.
Det Gda Daly asked Boy B to draw and label a sketch of “exactly what happened”. At one point Boy B demonstrated what he said he saw Boy A doing to Ana.
Asked “what was in the bag” belonging to Boy A, he said he didn’t know. “He didn’t show me.”
Builder’s tape
Boy B told gardaí he didn’t know anything about Ana being sexually assaulted.
He said builder’s tape which Det Gda Daly said had been used to strangle Ana might match tape he gave Boy A previously to build something. He said he had also used this tape to build things.
The court heard Boy B was released after interview five. On July 7th gardaí obtained a warrant to rearrest him after uncovering new evidence, Inspector Damien Gannon said.
The boy was detained in Lucan Garda Station the next day where he was interviewed for a sixth time.
Boy A has pleaded not guilty to the murder and sexual assault “involving serious violence” of Ana Kriégel on May 14th, 2018, at Glenwood House, Laraghcon, Clonee Road, Lucan in Dublin.
Boy B has pleaded not guilty to the murder of the girl on the same date.
The accused were 13 at the time of the alleged offence and are 14 now.
The jury of eight men and four women will continue watching video of interview six on Monday when the trial resumes.
