It would be hard not to be moved by the devastation of members of all three families directly affected by the verdict in the case of the murder of Ana Kriegel, yet the prevailing sympathy must go first and foremost to the victim herself, and to her parents.

“Ana was a dream come true for us and she always will be.”

Geraldine Kriegel described their daughter as ‘very immature, a child on the inside’.

A sergeant has testified that he observed a ‘look’ or ‘glance’ between the two boys accused of murdering Anastasia Kriegel when they were showing gardaí where they claimed they’d last seen her.

Anastasia Kriegel’s father has described seeing his 14-year-old daughter walking away from their home with one of the boys accused of her murder 20 minutes before her phone tried to call her mother’s office, and half an hour before the State believes she was dead.