Court reserves judgment on fresh evidence in Boy B’s murder appeal

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The Court of Appeal reserved judgment on whether Boy B can introduce fresh expert evidence about his Garda interviews in his appeal against conviction for the murder of Ana Kriégel. The proceedings were reported on 22 June 2022.

Boy B was convicted in 2019 of murdering the 14-year-old in Lucan, Co Dublin, on 14 May 2018. The jury accepted the prosecution case that he lured her to a derelict house, where she was sexually assaulted and killed by another 13-year-old, known as Boy A. Boy B was jailed for 15 years, with a review scheduled after eight years.

At a hearing on 21 June 2022, defence counsel James Dwyer SC argued that an exception should be made to the usual rule against introducing matters on appeal that were not raised at trial. He said the fresh expert evidence went to the core of the prosecution case and was of very high quality.

Forensic psychologist Prof Susan Young reviewed Boy B’s five interviews and concluded in a December 2020 report that they were inadequate and inappropriate. Prof Gisli Gudjonsson reviewed her report and concluded that Boy B’s mind was substantially overborne and that he was unforthcoming because of immature emotional cognitive processing rather than maligned intentions.

Prosecuting counsel Brendan Grehan SC opposed the application, saying the defence could have raised the issues at trial. He stood over the interviews and said Boy B was in control of them. Gardaí used the interviews to show that Boy B repeatedly lied about his movements before admitting he watched Boy A attack Ana. Mr Grehan said neither expert had personally interviewed Boy B and, to his knowledge, Boy B did not dispute his admissions.

Mr Justice George Birmingham said the court would deliver its decision on admissibility before the full appeal.