Jozef Puska abandons appeal against conviction for murder of Ashling Murphy
by Fiona Magennis
Jozef Puska has abandoned his appeal against his conviction for the murder of schoolteacher Ashling Murphy, his lawyers have told a court, bringing to an end his efforts to proclaim his innocence of the brutal knife attack.
Puska is serving a life sentence for the murder of Ms Murphy (23), whom he attacked and stabbed repeatedly in the neck as she exercised along the canal towpath outside Tullamore, Co Offaly on January 12, 2022.
His senior counsel John Berry informed the Court of Appeal that Puska had completed a notice of abandonment in respect of his conviction appeal this morning (Friday) within the confines of the Central Criminal Court building in Dublin.
Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy acknowledged that the court had “received the notice of abandonment”, adding: “We’ll take it that it has been abandoned”.
Mr Berry asked that the case be left in for mention next week to deal with matters related to Puska’s life sentence. He said this related to whether there had been “an error on the part of the judge” in not backdating the sentence to when Puska first went into custody.
Despite Puska going into custody after his arrest in January 2022, trial judge Mr Justice Tony Hunt backdated the sentence only to when the verdict was returned in November 2023.
"I have discretion," he said. "And the backdate should be entirely academic anyway. Any rational system considering your release would have to take into account that we don’t know the why, and unless that becomes known it seems to me, unless you are enfeebled by disease or old age, the question of your safe return to society will be or should be a very open one," Mr Justice Hunt said.
Mr Berry said the hearing could be dealt with in a “very truncated” manner and it would take in the region of 15 minutes for his submissions.
Ms Justice Kennedy said the matter would be left in for Thursday, July 16 before a three-judge panel.
Mr Berry informed the court that Puska had indicated that he does not wish to be produced on that date. Asked by Ms Kennedy if the defendant wished to attend by video-link, counsel confirmed he did not.
Puska, who told detectives that he stopped working in 2017 after slipping a disk in his back, has been granted legal aid for his appeal on the same basis as his representation during his trial at the Central Criminal Court - where he was allocated a solicitor, a senior counsel and two junior counsel.
The 35-year-old, with a last address at Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, Co Offaly, had pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Murphy at Cappincur, Tullamore, on January 12, 2022.
The jury found that Puska stabbed Ms Murphy 11 times in the neck and slashed her once with the edge of a blade before leaving her to die in the thick thorns and brambles by the side of the canal towpath between Tullamore town and Digby Bridge. A monument now stands where she died.
Puska was placed at the scene by the presence of his distinctive green and black bicycle a few feet from Ms Murphy's body. He had been captured on CCTV cycling the same bicycle around Tullamore earlier that afternoon, stalking two women before heading towards the canal.
Puska's DNA was found on the bike as was his fingerprint, while his DNA was also under Ms Murphy's fingernails. The prosecution argued that the DNA under her nails showed that Ashling had scratched her attacker as she fought to save her own life.
When gardai spoke to Puska the day after the murder, his face and hands were covered in scratches that were consistent with him crawling through the thorns and briars by the side of the towpath where he murdered Ms Murphy.