Jozef Puska seemed like he had a "problem he didn't want to share" on day of Ashling Murphy murder

By Eoin Reynolds

Earlier on the day that Jozef Puska murdered Ashling Murphy, he was "a bit sad" and seemed like he had a "problem he didn't want to share with anyone," the Central Criminal Court has heard.

Lubomir Puska jnr (38) told gardai two days after the murder that his brother, Jozef Puska, was "not in a good mood" and the family became concerned when he left that afternoon and didn't return. He said he didn't see his brother again that day.

Two days after that first statement, Lubomir jnr returned to Tullamore Garda Station and apologised for lying. He said he had, in fact, seen Jozef again that night, soon after 9pm. He said Jozef arrived at the house they shared in Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, just outside Tullamore, looking like he had been beaten up.

The trial previously heard that Jozef Puska has been convicted of murdering Ms Murphy, a 23-year-old schoolteacher, on January 12, 2022. Ms Murphy was exercising by the canal near Tullamore when Jozef Puska stabbed her repeatedly in the neck.

Jozef, Lubomir jnr and another brother, Marek (36), lived at the house in Lynally Grove with their wives Viera Gaziova (38) and Jozefina Grundzova (31) and 14 children.

Lubomir Puska jnr and Marek Puska are accused of withholding information that was crucial to the investigation into Ms Murphy's murder in January 2022. Ms Grundzova and Ms Gaziova, are accused of impeding Jozef Puska's apprehension or prosecution by burning the clothes he wore when he murdered Ms Murphy.

Each accused has pleaded not guilty.

Det Gda Joanne O'Sullivan on Tuesday told prosecution senior counsel Sean Gillane that Lubomir jnr made voluntary statements at Tullamore Garda Station on January 14 and 16, 2022.

In his first statement, Lubomir jnr said he first saw his brother in the early afternoon that day. He seemed "a bit sad, not in a good mood," Lubomir jnr said.

He added: "He seemed to me like a person who doesn't want anyone to know what is biting him inside. Some kind of problem he didn't want to share with anyone."

Lubomir jnr left the house at about 11.30, and he said he didn't see his brother again.

In his second statement, after Lubomir jnr apologised for lying, he said that when Jozef arrived home on the night of the 12th, it looked like he had been struck on the forehead. When Jozef complained of a pain in the stomach, Lubomir jnr said he looked and saw three lacerations on his brother's abdomen.

Jozef insisted that nothing had happened, Lubomir jnr said, and didn't say where he had been.

He said their parents arrived a short time later and took Jozef to their home in Dublin.

When gardai asked why he had not told the truth in his previous statement, he said: "It felt strange to tell on my brother. I never had to do it before." He said he came back to tell the truth, adding: "I feel better now that I told the truth. I feel better now."

The trial continues before Ms Justice Caroline Biggs and a jury of seven men and five women.