Sentencing hearing for Ireland’s youngest murderers to begin next week

The sentencing hearing for Ireland’s youngest convicted murderers is set to go ahead on Tuesday.

The boys, now 15 years old, known as Boy A and Boy B, were found guilty in June of the murder of Ana Kriegel, whose naked body was found in an abandoned farmhouse in Lucan, Co Dublin, last May after the 14-year-old had been reported missing by her parents.

Boy A was also convicted of aggravated sexual assault.

Both boys have been granted lifelong anonymity due to their age.

Justice Paul McDermott received psychological and psychiatric reports for both boys on Friday in Dublin’s Criminal Courts of Justice, ahead of the planned hearing on October 29.

All parties agreed that only evidence in the reports relating to the crime, or that contain a “narrative of events (that) are relevant to the co-accused”, will be made available to each of the boys’ legal representatives, and not anything pertaining to personal circumstances.

Garda Detective Inspector Mark O’Neill is set to be the professional witness called to give summary evidence at the hearing, who will also be permitted to view those particular extracts of the reports.

The court also expects to hear victim impact statements from Ana’s family.

The number of members of the media present in the courtroom will be restricted, with an overflow of journalists being accommodated in another room in the court building.

Justice McDermott added that the move was in order to “protect the dignity of proceedings and the children subject to the sentencing hearing, which, from what I witnessed in court, are a source of difficulty for them and I’m going to reduce pressure on them in an extremely difficult time for them and their parents.

“It is appropriate to maintain a level of propriety for them in difficult circumstances and proceed in that manner.”

Both boys remain at Oberstown Children Detention Campus in North Dublin.