My darling Patrick couldn’t bear the pain of losing his little girl
‘Gentle soul’ never recovered from daughter’s brutal murder
THE funeral of Patrick Kriegel heard yesterday how he could not bear the pain of losing his beloved daughter Ana.
French native Patrick died peacefully at his home in Leixlip, Co Kildare, last Sunday.
As family and friends gathered with his wife Geraldine at Newlands Cross Crematorium, mourners reflected on how life for Patrick changed when Ana, 14, was brutally murdered by two schoolboys in 2018.
A slideshow of photographs showing Patrick and his family, including his late daughter, in happier times was displayed on a big screen inside the crematorium.
HEARTBROKEN
His heartbroken wife Geraldine paid a loving tribute to her “best friend and soulmate” and told mourners that Patrick “opened a beautiful book for me that became the story of our lives together”.
In a recorded message played to mourners at the service, Geraldine said: “He brought me to a place that I could never have imagined – a world of happiness, passion and excitement.”
Geraldine said Patrick, whom she was married to for 36 years, “embraced life in a very special way”.
She added: “If you met him, he could fill your heart with joy just listening to his laughter and his genuine interest in you and your life.”
Patrick moved to Ireland many years ago and lectured in commercial and business French at DIT, where he brought “a rich tapestry of culture to his classroom”.
Geraldine said Patrick loved the Irish way of life so much that he became a “master of slagging,” but also he was so proud of his own French culture that he did the utmost to educate everyone about it.
Geraldine said: “At the beginning he was intrigued with the way Irish people loved to slag each other.
“And so he perfected the art and became a master of slagging.”
Geraldine said she “never missed an opportunity to tell him how much I loved him, and likewise”. She added: “He was never shy about professing his love for me.”
When tragedy struck the Kriegel family with the murder of their beloved daughter Anastasia by two schoolboys on May 14, 2018, Geraldine told mourners “then the sadness came and how we suffered”.
A tearful Geraldine said: “Life was never the same. My darling Patrick couldn’t bear the pain of losing his little girl, his beloved Ana.”
Family friends shared memories of happier times with Patrick and his family on holidays in France, and his philosophical sense which “connected ideas to normal ordinary life”.
Patrick’s brother-in-law Kevin told mourners that he remembers long conversations into the night with Patrick that “made me hooked by his exotic French accent”.
He added: “I remember little of what we said, but I’ve never forgotten how it sounded.” He said Patrick’s death is “painful because you went too soon. Too soon after Ana. It’s just incomprehensible”, adding that their love for him and their memories of him will never end.
UNIQUE
Family friend Irene Connor told mourners that Patrick “was truly a unique man, because he was a French man with a sense of humour, an Irish one at that”.
She recalled: “Patrick laughed often and Patrick laughed lots and that infectious laugh will remain always.” He was a “gentle soul, a pure gentleman,” she added.
Among the mourners were Deputy Catherine Murphy, a close family friend of the Kriegels, as well as Brendan Grehan, SC, who prosecuted Boy A and Boy B for the murder of Ana during their trial.
Ana, who was lured to an abandoned house in Lucan, Co Dublin, in May 2018, was subject to a violent sexual assault and murder in a horrific crime that shocked the nation.
Her naked body was discovered three days later, with blue tape around her neck, in a derelict house where her clothes were found scattered.
Ana’s death was caused by blunt force injuries and bloodied pieces of wood were found in the house.
Two boys, known only as Boy A and Boy B, who were 13 years old at the time of the girl’s death, were found guilty by unanimous verdicts of Ana’s murder in a seven-week long trial at the Central Criminal Court in 2019.
Boy A was sentenced to life with a review period after 12 years for Ana’s murder, with a concurrent 12 years for
aggravated sexual assault. Boy B was sentenced to 15 years for Ana’s murder with a review after an eight-year period.
Boy B this week told the Court of Appeal that he was subjected to “manipulation and pressure” by gardai when he gave statements that were used to convict him.
The two boys are the youngest in the history of with murder.
He was never shy about professing his love GERALDINE KRIEGEL ON HER HUSBAND