Boy B told detectives he saw Boy A ‘choke’ Ana
Jury shown video footage of interviews in which teen told gardai he heard girl scream, writes Eimear Cotter
DEADPOOL was Boy B’s favourite Marvel character but his friends preferred Thor or the Hulk, he told gardai during an early interview.
The court heard detectives conducted five interviews with Boy B on May 24 and May 25, 2018. It was a week since Ana Kriegel’s body had been found and 10 days since her parents reported her missing.
Asking the questions were Detective Sergeant (now Inspector) Damien Gannon and Detective Garda Donal Daly, who both have 20 years’ experience in An Garda Siochana.
Boy B and his co-accused, known as Boy A, have pleaded not guilty before the Central Criminal Court to murdering Ana Kriegel at Glenwood House, Laraghcon, Clonee Road, in Lucan, on May 14, 2018.
Boy A has also denied a charge of aggravated sexual assault.
Last week, the jury watched video footage of interviews with Boy B at Finglas garda station.
Mr Justice Paul McDermott told jurors to bear in mind anything Boy B said in his interviews about Boy A could not be used in the prosecution case against Boy A.
Boy B immediately showed himself to be an intelligent young man, which gardai remarked upon.
Asked to explain the truth or a lie, Boy B said the truth was “what happened exactly in the story”, while a lie was if you were telling a fake story or you weren’t there.
Gardai told Boy B they wanted to establish the truth.
“This is your opportunity to tell us the truth,” they said.
Boy B then gave his first account of what happened on May 14, 2018.
Boy A asked him to call for Ana, citing “relationship problems”.
He refused but Boy A started “whinging” and he eventually agreed.
Boy B called to Ana’s house about 5pm.
When she came to the door, she asked him what he wanted. She “lightened up” when he told her Boy A wanted to see her, he said.
Boy B said he and Ana were walking towards the spot in the park where he’d arranged to meet Boy A when he saw someone all in black in front of them. It was Boy A, he said.
Boy B said he was with Boy A and Ana for a few minutes until he started dropping back to give them space. Boy B then told them “I’m gone, see yous”.
Boy B said he visited a house he called the “abandoned house” with Boy A in 2017, some time around the end of the year. The place was a “disaster piece” and everything was trashed.
In the third interview, gardai told Boy B they had watched the CCTV footage in the park and at no stage had they seen three people walking the route, as described to them by Boy B.
Boy B said he “wasn’t really paying attention” to where he was walking with Ana and Boy A.
He was shown CCTV footage and he identified Boy A in clips from the other end of the park, around the time he said he and Ana had met up with Boy A. This was “really strange”, he said.
Insp Gannon put to it to Boy B there were inconsistencies in his account, and what he had told gardai did not match the CCTV footage.
Later, Boy B said he believed the person he identified as Ana, who he passed as he left the park, wasn’t in fact her.
At the start of the fourth interview, Boy B told gardai he was going to retell the story as “what I told you yesterday was a lie”.
Boy B said he got Ana and they went to the park, but did not meet Boy A in the spot where he’d previously said.
Boy B said he and Ana walked towards the BMX track and met Boy A near it.
Boy B let Ana talk to Boy A for a while, but he stayed back to give them privacy. He got bored and left. “That’s the truth,” he said. The court heard the BMX track was close to the abandoned house. Asked if he had been in the abandoned house that day [May 14], Boy B said “on the day I wasn’t but I was before”.
Boy B was then shown photographs of the crime scene, as well as one of Boy A’s boots. There was blood spatter on the boots and it matched Ana’s DNA, gardai said.
“No, no, [Boy A] wouldn’t do that”, he said.
Gardai said the blood spatter on the boots meant Boy A either assaulted Ana or was standing by when it happened.
“I don’t want to believe it was [Boy A],” Boy B said.
Boy B was shown a photograph of a stone block, which gardai said had Ana’s blood and hair on it.
Boy B responded: “Jesus Christ, it gets worse and worse.”
He told gardai: “I don’t know what happened. I wasn’t in the house.”
During interview five, gardai said a witness had seen a teenager going into a field near the abandoned house and they believed this was him.
“OK, I did go into the field, but it was to look around,” Boy B said, adding he didn’t go any further.
Gda Daly put it to Boy B he was making it all up as he went along. A girl had been brutally murdered, said the garda, and Boy B owed it to himself, his mother and to Ana to tell the truth.
Boy B then said he, Boy A and Ana had walked through the fields and Boy A brought Ana into the house.
He was just “tagging along” and didn’t go into the house. He then started to leave.
“It was then I heard a scream,” Boy B said, adding: “I was walking away when I heard the screaming.” He knew it was Ana, he said.
He ran away because he was scared, he said, and he thought Ana and Boy A had been attacked. He kept thinking everything would be all right and Boy A could protect Ana.
Gda Daly told Boy B he needed him to tell the truth, no games, no bits left out.
“Boy B said he, Boy A and Ana crossed the ditch and walked towards the house. He stayed behind to give them space. Boy A and Ana stopped at the footpath but he kept walking and went into the house.
He said Boy A and Ana walked into the house, and he went to follow them, but Boy A told him “we’ll be fine, you can go now”.
As he was leaving, Boy B said he heard a scream and he ran as fast as he could. He thought Boy A could protect Ana because he was strong.
Once Ana’s body was found, Boy B said he thought Boy A ran away and something else had happened to Ana.
Asked if he went into the room where Ana’s body was later found, Boy B said he looked in but didn’t go in.
Gda Daly told Boy B: “Tell us every single detail, you have to tell us everything.”
Boy B repeated he went into the house, looked around and came back out. Boy A and Ana then went into the house, he said, and he started to follow them, but Boy A said “no, we’ll be all right”.
Gda Daly told Boy B he needed “the truth”.
Boy B said Boy A went into the room with Ana. He was about to leave when he saw Boy A put his arm around Ana and “kind of hugged her”.
Gda Daly repeated he wanted the truth, and he knew Boy B hadn’t told him everything.
Boy B said Boy A put his arm around Ana and “flipped” her and that’s when he [Boy B] ran out of the house.
Gda Daly told Boy B to tell him “every single thing”.
Boy B said he saw Boy A “flip her [Ana] and start to choke her”.
He said Boy A started taking Ana’s clothes off. Boy B said Boy A looked up at the door where he [Boy B] was standing and he ran away. That’s when he heard the screaming, he said.
Asked about Ana, Boy B said she had started to cry and kept saying “no, no, don’t do this”.
Gda Daly asked Boy B to tell him the exact position Ana was in.
“She was lying on the floor. [Boy A] was on top of her, choking her as he took off the clothes,” he said.
The trial continues.
‘Court heard the BMX track was close to the abandoned house’