One of two boys accused of Anastasia Kriegel’s murder claimed that he ‘hadn’t a clue what happened to her’, when asked to make a statement after he and the other boy had disagreed about what happened in front of gardai.
Boy B claimed she had looked ‘very down’ and ‘upset’ after meeting Boy A so he could tell her he was not interested in her.
Gardai were giving evidence to the Central Criminal Court today (Thursday) in the trial of two teenagers charged with murdering the Kildare schoolgirl.
The two boys are charged with murdering Anastasia at Glenwood House, Laraghcon, Clonee Road, Lucan on 14th May last year. The accused, who are both 14, cannot be named because they are minors. They each pleaded not guilty.
Boy A is further charged with Anastasia’s aggravated sexual assault in a manner that involved serious violence to her. He also pleaded not guilty to that count.
Sergeant Aonghus Hussey told Brendan Grehan SC, prosecuting, that he and a colleague accompanied both boys to St Catherine’s Park in Leixlip the day after Ana had gone missing. He was aware that Boy B had said that morning that he and Ana had met Boy A in the park the previous evening.
They were asked to re-walk the route they had taken, and maps of this route were provided to the jury.
Sgt Hussey said that, at one point, his colleague stated to both boys that this was not the route Boy B had indicated to him earlier.
He was asked how Boy B appeared at that point.
“Uncertain, confused,” he replied.
“We were trying to establish the movements and Boy B said this was the last point, that was as far as he’d gone,” he recalled. “Again there was confusion.
I saw a look given between Boy A and Boy B that I was not happy with. I felt immediately that there was something wrong. I couldn’t understand why they could not exactly tell me their movements.”
He said that his colleague had also observed this and they decided to split the two boys up. Sgt Hussey continued to walk with Boy A and his father.
“I asked his father to stay a little behind,” he explained. “I thought maybe he was embarrassed by something he didn’t want his father to hear, to see if something had occurred between him and Ana.”
Neither had any difficulty with this, he said.
“Boy A informed me that Ana had asked him out and he had declined her,” he testified. “He said she was upset and that she turned and left, “ he continued.
“Boy A said he had continued on (alone) because he just wanted to get his head together,” he added. “He informed me that he had been assaulted by two males and that’s the reason he was holding his arm and was limping.”
The sergeant said that he, Boy A and his father had returned to where other gardai had been waiting. He informed them that he was unhappy with the accounts and information given because they seemed to lack consistency. It was decided to bring both boys to Leixlip Garda Station voluntarily to get statements in writing.
He and a colleague took Boy B’s statement in the presence of his mother.
“Yesterday evening, about 5pm, I called to a girl called Ana Kriegel at the request of my friend Boy A. Boy A had asked me to call to her and bring her to St Catherine’s Park to meet him there. He had told me he had wanted to sort out some relationship issues with her so i called and got Ana,” he began.
“Ana wanted to know why Boy A wanted her. I said I’ll tell you when we get there. We then met up in the park with Boy A,” he continued. “I stayed a little behind them so they could talk… I know Boy A wanted to be clear with her that she was not of interest to him so I let them walk on.”
He said he later noticed Ana walking back towards where they had come from.
“I said Hey, but she didn’t really say anything. She seemed upset. She looked really down. She had her head down. I walked in front of her and we didn’t really talk,” he said.
He said that Ana then turned back towards some changing rooms.
“I didn’t see her after that or speak to her. I’m not sure where she went after that,” he said, putting the time at about 5.30pm or 5.40pm.
“The first time I knew there was a problem with Ana was when the gardai called to my house asking about her,” he said. “I have no clue what happened to her.”
The trial continues this afternoon before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of eight men and four women.
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