One of the boys convicted of murdering Ana Kriegel has admitted choking her and hitting her with a stick and a concrete block but continues to deny sexually assaulting her, a court has heard.
At a sentence hearing this morning, Detective Inspector Mark O'Neill told Brendan Grehan SC for the Director of Public Prosecutions that since his conviction Boy A, who during his trial denied assaulting Ana, has been the subject of reports by psychiatrists and psychologists.
As a result of those Det Insp O'Neill said Boy A has accepted that he caused Ana's death.
The witness agreed with Mr Grehan that Boy A, "described various actions including headlock, choke hold, kicking, hitting her with a stick and ultimately a block which he either threw at her or hit off her head on three occasions."
But the inspector said that Boy A maintains that he did not sexually assault Ana and "puts forward an alternative explanation" for the forensics found at the scene.
During the trial it emerged that Boy A's semen was found on Ana's top and there was evidence that she had been sexually assaulted.
Inspector O'Neill also told the hearing that gardai found evidence that the boys planned Ana's murder.
The sentence hearing is continuing this afternoon at the Central Criminal Court in front of Justice Paul McDermott.
The two boys, referred to in the media as Boy A and Boy B, were 13 years old when they murdered Ana Kriegel in an abandoned house at Laraghcon, Clonee Road, Lucan, Dublin on May 14, 2018.
Now aged 15, they were convicted by unanimous jury verdicts earlier this year.
Boy A was also convicted of Ana's aggravated sexual assault in a manner that involved serious violence to her.
