Homotopy of ends and boundaries of CAT(0) groups

For n  ≥  0, we exhibit CAT(0) groups that are n-connected at infinity, and have boundary which is (n − 1)-connected, but this boundary has non-trivial nth-homotopy group. In particular, we construct 1-ended CAT(0) groups that are simply connected at infinity, but have a boundary with non-trivial fundamental group. Our base examples are 1-ended CAT(0) groups that have non-path connected boundaries. In particular, we show all parabolic semidirect products of the free group of rank 2 and \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\mathbb{Z}$$\end{document} have a non-path connected boundary.