Two teenage boys were sentenced yesterday for killing 14-year-old Ana Kriegel, a horrifying crime that has devastated three families and caused profound shock and revulsion throughout Ireland.
The schoolboys, who cannot be named, are now aged 15 but were just 13 at the time of the killing in May last year, and are the youngest convicted murderers in the history of the Irish state.
They were found guilty in June of murdering their young victim, whose naked body was found in a disused building in Lucan, Co Dublin.
At Dublin's Central Criminal Court yesterday, Boy A, who was also convicted of aggravated sexual assault, was given a life term with a review period after twelve years while Boy B, sentenced to 15 years, will have a review after eight years.
Ana's father Patric, speaking after the hearing, said justice had been served for his daughter and the judge had decided on the sentence.
He added: ''For our part we can only say that forever is not long enough.''
Geraldine and Patric Kriegel have conducted themselves with immense dignity in the face of unspeakable loss but their pain is all too evident.
In her victim impact statement, Mrs Kriegel told the court that her daughter's death had left an emptiness in the lives of all who knew her.
''Life without Ana is no longer a life,'' she said. ''It is a misery we must endure for the rest of our lives.''
Justice Paul McDermott spoke of the denial of Ana's right to life and her hopes for a future full of variety, potential and aspirations.
He described how the joy and security of the Kriegel family had been shattered, her parents handed a 'lifelong sentence'.
This distressing case will stay long in the memory of those who have read the details.
Ana came from a very loving home but endured appalling bullying on social media in the months leading up to her death.
There are still questions as to how two boys, from loving, secure homes, ended up taking the life of this vulnerable girl.
The boys' young age was a mitigating factor for the judge, who urged them to reconstruct their lives following release.
As he told them, they have been given a second chance, something that was so cruelly denied Ana Kriegel.
At the conclusion of this exceptionally difficult and harrowing case, people will be thinking of Ana and her grieving parents.
