Boy B subjected to 'manipulation' in garda interviews, Ana Kriegel murder appeal hears

• Author: Eoin Reynolds
• Published date: 22 June 2022
• Publication title: DublinLive (Ireland)

James Dwyer SC, for the now 17-year-old who was named as Boy B during his trial, said that the prosecution relied heavily on those interviews and without them there would have been "almost no evidence against him". He said senior forensic psychologist Professor Susan Young had watched videos of the interviews and found they were "inadequate" and "inappropriate" for a 13-year-old boy given their duration, the use of manipulation and pressure, repetition and enactment

The professor found that interviewing detectives engaged in an "overriding of caution" in the context of the defendant being a 13-year-old boy. Boy B's lawyers want to introduce Professor Young's report, which is supported by Professor Gisli Gudjonsson, as fresh evidence so that they can argue that the Garda interviews should not have been presented in evidence at his trial.

Brendan Grehan SC for the Director of Public Prosecutions told the three-judge court that Boy B has never disputed the final account given by him to gardai in those interviews. Instead, his lawyers used those interviews to suggest to the jury in his trial that he was just an "innocent bystander" who witnessed the "vile acts" of his co-accused Boy A, but did not participate in Ana's murder.

Counsel said that in subsequent interviews Boy B has given to probation officers and psychologists he has given the same account with some added details. Mr Grehan said he stands "one hundred per cent" behind the conduct of the detectives who interviewed Boy B.

He told the court that the detectives had implored Boy B to tell them the truth in circumstances where they knew he was lying. They did so without raising their voices and used "perfectly valid" techniques for building rapport, counsel said.

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