Boy A and Boy B were normal kids in first year at school – best friends for the most part, enjoying childhood pursuits.
But in court it began to emerge that Boy A and Boy B were different.
Boy A
Boy A’s interests were revealed in a questionnaire in court. He liked horror books, combat sports, he was a fan of horror and comedy films and rap music.
The document was found in a search by gardai and innocuous questions added up to expose something else.
In one answer he said he was “crazy, funny, adventurous”, but then added he was strange.
He is from an ordinary middle-class family in a leafy suburb – his parents standing by him throughout the trial.
But his sinister life was laid bare in court – shocking his family and the country.
Boy B
Boy B was a different character entirely. Every day he enjoyed lunch with his parents. He too was from a middle-class background.
He was described as being “articulate” by gardai who interviewed him.
His dad told the court he thought his son was immature. Playing with bows and arrows and refusing to get interested in sport, despite his father’s efforts.
He, like Boy A, was a first year student and getting on well at school.
But there was something amiss, something not right.
Asked to describe him, his father said he did not like sports. Instead he preferred “childish things” like cartoons and Pokemon.
His dad added he tried to get him to grow as a man but the boy didn’t like to do anything with “fights or with sports”.
