Shocking murder is just the latest in long and tragic list of young girls
THE discovery of the body of 14-year-old schoolgirl Ana Kriegel has shocked the nation.
However, sadly, this is not the first time violence has taken the lives of young girls.
Melissa Mahon, Sligo, 2006. Ronnie Dunbar, of Rathbraughan Park in Sligo, was found guilty of the manslaughter of Melissa Mahon in September 2006.
He was sentenced to life in imprisonment in July 2009.
Melissa’s remains had been found a year and a half after her murder. Her body was dumped in the River Bonnet in Sligo.
Due to this the cause of death of the 14-year-old could not properly be established. Marioara Rostas, Dublin, 2008.
Marioara (18) was begging in the city centre near Pearse Street when her brother said he saw her get into a car.
This was the last sighting of the young girl alive.
Her body was found four years later in a shallow grave in the Dublin mountains.
The teenager’s body was described as “mummified” and was discovered in plastic sheeting with four bullet holes to the head.
A man was tried and acquitted of her murder in 2014.
Michaela Davis, Dublin, 2010
The body of Michaela (12) was found by the banks of the Royal canal in Porterstown, Dublin 15 on August 28, 2010.
The schoolgirl had been raped twice by Jonathan
Byrne, who was 18 at the time, before he strangled her in a field on Porterstown Road.
Michaela’s body was discovered following a search not far from her Clonsilla home.
Byrne was in a relationship with Michaela at the time, despite knowing she was 12.
He was arrested the day after her body was discovered – following a Garda search of his bedroom. Byrne later admitted to raping and strangling the girl.
In December 2011, Byrne was sentenced to life for the murder and rape of Michaela.
Melanie McCarthy McNamara, Dublin, 2012 Melanie was gunned down in a drive-by shooting in Tallaght in 2012.
She was shot in the head as she sat in a car with her boyfriend and his friend on Brookview Way, on February 8, 2012. Daniel McDonnell of Brookview Lawns in Tallaght was convicted of her murder by a jury at the Central Criminal Court and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Keith Hall of Kilmartin Drive, Tallaght, was also sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to her manslaughter.