One of the convicted murderers had an excessive amount of porn on his phone despite being only 13 years old
Ana Kriegel's murder is forcing Ireland to reexamine its laws regarding access to pornography.
Read More: Two 14-year-old boys become youngest people in history of Irish state convicted of murder
On June 18, two boys, known only as Boy A and Boy B, were convicted of the murder of 14-year-old Anastasia ‘Ana’ Kriegel in Dublin in 2018.
At only 14 years old, the two teens are the youngest people in the history of the Irish state to be convicted of murder. They will be sentenced next month.
The Irish Times reports that during investigations, a cell phone belonging to Boy A was found to have "thousands" of pornographic images, some violent in nature, as well as searches of “child porn”, “animal porn”, “horse porn”, “dark web” and “dead boy prank in abandoned haunted school.”
While the prosecution sought to introduce the materials as evidence in the trial, Justice Paul McDermott did not allow it, saying that its prejudicial value outweighed its probative value.
Read More: Irish boy (13) charged with murder of Ana Kriegel (14) to be granted bail
In the wake of the convictions, some Irish politicians are considering what can be done to prevent underage people from gaining access to pornography.
Irish Labour party leader Brendan Howlin, who earlier this year introduced legislation to criminalize the non-consensual distribution of intimate images, raised the issue of underage access to pornography in the Dáil [Irish Parliament] on Wednesday.
^ Here's my report on this exchange for @VirginMediaNews this evening: pic.twitter.com/edRGybwkdz
— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) June 19, 2019
Howlin said: “It’s been revealed that Boy A had two mobile phones full of pornographic images."
“It’s up to professionals to assess the impact of such material on impressionable children, but we can clearly and unambiguously say that this material should not be accessible by children.”
Read More: 13-year-old boy charged with murder of Irish schoolgirl
Howlin asked Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to consider the new UK laws which go into effect next month which aim to crack down on underage people accessing pornography online but requiring new methods of proving age.
Varadkar said Howlin’s suggestion “is a very good one” and will direct Minister for Justice and Equality Charlie Flanagan to coordinate with his UK counterpart in a year or so to see if the new legislation is “effective and whether there have been unintended consequences.”
Do you think Ireland needs to do more to prevent underage access to pornography? Let us know in the comments
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