The mother of Ana Kriegel was “immediately concerned” when she heard her daughter had left home with one of the accused.
Geraldine Kriegel was giving evidence on the second day of the trial of two 14-year-old boys charged with her murder.
She told Dublin’s Central Criminal Court she woke Ana at 8.15am on May 14, 2018, before leaving for a meeting at the city centre solicitor’s firm where she worked.
Mrs Kriegel added: “[Ana] liked for me to wake her in the morning and I kissed her goodbye.”
She said she gave her daughter a note so she could get out of school early to attend her counsellor.
Shortly after 4pm, Ana rang her mum’s mobile twice but she texted back to say she was at a meeting.
When she returned home to Newtown Park in Leixlip, Co Kildare, she found 14-year-old Ana missing.
Referring to Boy B, who had called to the house earlier, Mrs Kriegel said: “I was immediately concerned. She had no reason to be with him.
“She had no friends, no one called for Ana.”
She texted her daughter, “Home now” but did not get an answer.
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She went on: “I was so worried. I texted again, ‘Answer me now or I am calling the police’. I was feeling like
a paranoid mother, between being over-protective and being terrified.”
Mrs Kriegel said her daughter was a “communicator” who never ignored her calls and was never late.
The family carried out a desperate search of the general area before going to the local Garda station to make a report.
Mrs Kriegel said she had looked at Ana’s WhatsApp and found the last time she accessed her account was at 5.13pm on the day she vanished.
The court heard Mrs Kriegel and her husband Patric went to Dublin City Mortuary on May 18 last year
to identify their daughter’s remains, accompanied by a garda.
Mr Kriegel confirmed Ana was being bullied.
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However, he told the hearing that during an inquiry into a complaint she had made, her school discovered she had set up two “fake” social media accounts which she had been using to “bully herself”.
Mr Kriegel, who is originally from Paris, had retired from his job as a French lecturer six years before.
He said he was in the back garden enjoying the warm weather on May 14 when the door bell rang at 4.55pm.
Another person in the house, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, answered the door.
Her father saw Ana “whispering” with the caller. He said she went back upstairs and came down wearing a distinctive black hoodie with a white symbol on it.
Reminding her she had to study for exams, Mr Kriegel told the court: “I said don’t be long and she replied, ‘I won’t be long’. I knew she meant exactly that. I knew by how she said it.”
He added his daughter left without saying where she was going and the person who answered the door was also unaware of her destination but identified the caller as Boy B.
Mr Kriegel said he saw Ana walking away with a boy in the direction of St Catherine’s Park.
As soon as his wife returned home they began the search. Mr Kriegel was shown a CCTV still which showed her leaving the house with Boy B.
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He told the court he did not think they were talking as the teen was walking “three paces” in front of Ana.
Three gardai also gave evidence yesterday.
Gda Conor Muldoon told the court he was on duty when the Kriegel family arrived at the station.
He took the details and placed the missing person report online. He then carried out inquiries with colleague Gda Eoin Kelly in the patrol car.
Calling at the home of Boy B, the officers spoke to him and his mother and he said he had gone to the park with Ana.
Gda Kelly and Sgt John Dunne made an application to “ping” the last location of Ana’s phone.
They continued to search for her over the next few days.
Boy A and Boy B are charged with Ana’s murder. Boy A is also charged with aggravated sexual assault.
Both teens kept their heads bowed during yesterday’s evidence.
The trial continues today before Justice Paul McDermott.
