BAN ON NEW EVIDENCE IN BOY B’S ANA MURDER APPEAL..
Judge refuses to let one of girl’s killers submit psychology reports
THE Court of Appeal has refused to allow fresh evidence brought by the teenager who lured Ana Kriegel to a derelict house so that his friend could murder her.
Following the move, the court set October 5 to hear the full appeal against the 17-year-old’s murder conviction.
Mr Justice George Birmingham delivered the ruling of the three-judge court yesterday.
He said the application on behalf of the teenager known as Boy B does not come near the threshold set for cases.
He said Boy B was attempting to “set at naught” the way his trial was run having hired a new legal team.
His lawyers had sought to introduce reports written by eminent psychologists who were critical of an expert called by previous advisers.
The reports also claimed Boy B was subjected to “manipulation and pressure” by gardai during interviews.
The documents also stated his mind was “substantially overborne” and the account he gave to gardai may have been misleading. Mr Justice Birmingham said it was “unusual” that Boy B’s lawyers were challenging the admissibility of his interviews when there was “no challenge whatsoever” during his trial.
He added: “At no point during the trial was it suggested that the responses to questions from the appellant were coerced, or anything other than voluntary.
“The appellant’s position was that, while lies were initially told, he eventually presented a true picture of what had occurred.
“The true picture being he was an observer or eyewitness but not a participant.”
He further stated any suggestion Boy B had “buckled” and had given an involuntary account was negated as in June 2018 he told a similar account to a pal which stated he saw Boy A attacking Ana. Mr Justice Birmingham said the application to admit new evidence was “radical”.
He added: “More than three years after the trial, the appellant seeks to run an entirely different case. He does so despite the fact there has never been any suggestion of inadequate legal representation provided to him by the solicitor, junior or senior counsel who represented him at trial.”
At a previous hearing Brendan Grehan SC, for the DPP, said while Boy B lied in Garda interviews, there is no suggestion he has denied his final account was true.
In Garda interviews, he denied any knowledge of what happened to Ana, 14 and gave accounts of what he had done and seen.
In his final interview he admitted seeing Boy A assault Ana and remove her clothing but denied any role in her murder.
His lawyers argued at his trial he was an innocent bystander.
The prosecution’s case was Boy B lured Ana to the house by telling her that Boy A wanted to meet her, knowing Boy A intended to kill her. He watched as Boy A, who was dressed in black and wearing
a ghoulish mask, sexually assaulted Ana. He dragged her to the ground where he beat her with wood and a large block.
In his Garda interviews Boy B also admitted that Boy A had previously told him that he wanted to kill Ana.
The pair were convicted by a Central Criminal Court jury in June 2019 of murdering Ana in St Catherine’s Park in Lucan in May 2018.
They were 13 at the time of the murder. Boy A was also convicted of Ana’s aggravated sexual assault in a manner that involved serious violence.
Boy B was sentenced to 15 years’ detention, to be reviewed after eight years. Boy A was sentenced to life with a review after 12 years, and eight years imprisonment for aggravated sexual assault.
No appeal has been lodged on Boy A’s behalf.