The garda who found the body of 14-year-old Ana Kriégel said he thought he had found either a mannequin, or "something terrible", the Central Criminal Court has been told.
The schoolgirl's body was found in a dark room in a derelict house with blue tape tied around her neck.
The doctor who pronounced her dead said it was possible someone had pulled or dragged her by the material around her neck.
Two 14-year-old boys have pleaded not guilty to the murder of the schoolgirl on 14 May 2018. One has also denied violently sexually assaulting her.
Garda Seán White said he was part of the search team looking for Ana Kriégel on 17 May 2018.
He was in the derelict Glenwood house when he saw what he thought was a mannequin in a dark room.
Garda White said the lighting was poor - there was only a single shaft of light. He became aware of the surroundings and got a smell of dried blood and began to realise what he had found. He said he realised it was either a mannequin, or "something terrible".
Sergeant Declan Burchill told the court he was in charge of the team and was searching an outbuilding when Garda White called him.
They went into the house which was in very poor condition - there had been fires lit inside and the roof had collapsed in several areas.
Kriégel trial shown items from room where body found
They went to a dark, narrow room described in the investigation as room 1. Both windows were boarded up although one had a hole in it, allowing in a limited amount of light.
Sergeant Burchill said he stood in the doorway of the room and saw the body of a girl lying on her back on the floor.
He told the court she was naked apart from some socks. He said she was lying diagonally across the room with her feet towards the door.
He said he could not see Ana's face and as he got closer he could see her hair was matted and stuck across her face. He could also see blood from her nose and mouth.
Sergeant Burchill told the court Ana's head was pulled backwards, there was a ligature, tie or noose around her neck.
Her right arm was outstretched, and he said three of the fingers on her left hand were inside the ligature as if she was trying to pull it away from her neck.
Sergeant Burchill said there was a lot of debris in the room - there had been a number of fires in corners. There was a lot of ash, mounds of rubbish and drink cans.
He said he used a torch to look at Ana's body to see if there were any signs of life, but presumed due to the position of the body that she had passed away.
Dr Muhammad Ghaffar told the court he officially pronounced Ana dead later that day.
When he arrived at the scene he saw the body of a young girl lying on her back.
She had something tied around her neck, but it was not tight. He said her face was covered in blood and there was blood on her hair. She had multiple bruises including to her thighs.
He told the court that by the way her neck was pulled back, it was "possible" that someone had pulled or dragged her by the material around her neck. He pronounced her dead at 2.19pm on 17 May 2018.
