Brother of Jozef Puska denied telling someone to dispose of knife used to murder Ashling Murphy, jury hears

by Ryan Dunne

Jozef Puska's brother denied to gardaí that he told someone to dispose of the knife used to murder schoolteacher Ashling Murphy, the Central Criminal Court has heard.

The jury also heard that Lubomir Puska Jnr (37) denied that he had asked anyone to dispose of the clothes worn by his brother on the day Jozef Puska murdered Ms Murphy.

Jozef Puska (35) attacked Ms Murphy (23) on the canal towpath at Cappincur in Tullamore on January 12, 2022. She died having suffered 12 sharp force injuries to her neck, eleven of which were stab wounds.

Puska’s brothers Lubomir Puska Jnr and Marek Puska (36) are charged with withholding information, knowing or believing that the information might be of material assistance in securing the apprehension, prosecution, or conviction of Jozef Puska for a serious offence involving loss of human life or serious personal injury to another.

Both men have pleaded not guilty to the offences, which are charged under the Offences Against the State, Amendment Act 1988.

Jozefina Grundzova (31), who is married to Marek Puska, and Viera Gaziova (38), who is married to Lubomir Puska Jnr, are accused of assisting in burning clothing between January 12 and 14, without reasonable excuse, intending to impede the apprehension or prosecution of Jozef Puska, knowing or believing him to have committed the offence of murder or some other arrestable offence within the same category or of a similar nature.

They have pleaded not guilty to the offences, which are charged under the Criminal Law Act 1997.

All the accused have an address at Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, Tullamore, Co Offaly.

The jury previously heard that in his first statement to gardaí, Lubomir Jnr said he first saw his brother Jozef in the early afternoon that day. He seemed "a bit sad, not in a good mood," Lubomir Jnr said.

He told gardaí that he left the house at about 11.30 and did not see his brother again. However, he later returned to the garda station and made a second statement, in which he apologised for lying and said that when Jozef arrived home on the night of January 12, it looked like he had been struck on the forehead.

The jury at the Central Criminal Court on Wednesday watched video footage of Lubomir Jnr's interview with gardaí on January 18, 2022, in which he said he returned home on the day Ms Murphy was murdered to find his brother Jozef looking “like he was beaten by someone”.

Through a Slovakian interpreter, Lubomir Jnr said that Jozef was “swollen on the forehead” and his cheek was red like he had been scraped. He said his brother had “a weird walk, kind of broken,” as though something had happened to him.

He told the gardaí that his brother, who was just out of the shower, opened the towel he was wearing to reveal three stab wounds.

“He looked drunk, but he wasn’t drunk,” said Lubomir Jnr. He told gardaí that he asked Jozef what had happened to him, to which his brother replied that he had wanted to kill himself and he had done a “horrendous thing”.

“He said when he was stabbing himself, there was a girl running or exercising, she went towards him,” the accused told gardaí. “She said: ‘What are you doing? Don’t do it, you are too young.’ He said to her, ‘Leave me alone, it’s my life, my business.’”

The accused said that Jozef “probably wanted to push her away to leave him alone”, but he thought that Jozef “cut her with the knife”.

After telling the gardaí this, the accused said it had been “very heavy, very hard to say”. “I never said anything like that in my life,” said the accused.

He told gardaí that he could not believe what his brother was telling him, so he asked him again what he had done. He said that Jozef told him: “I don’t know whether I hurt her so much, but I think I did... it must have been an accident, I didn’t want to do this, but I just switched my hand as she was coming near me.”

The accused said he told his brother to tell their parents immediately what he had done, to which Jozef said that he would tell them but only after they brought him to Dublin. The accused said he told his brother to tell their parents everything and “don’t make any secrets”.

In a further interview, the accused told gardaí that he thought Jozef had his clothes in the bathroom with him. When asked if anyone removed those clothes, he said that he did not know.

Detective Garda Joanne O'Sullivan gave evidence to prosecution counsel Sean Gillane SC of the accused’s next interview with gardaí, conducted on January 26, 2022.

In this interview, it was put to the accused that someone had asked his wife to move Josef's clothes and put them beside the bin.

“I don’t know who it was, it wasn’t me,” replied the accused.

In a further interview on January 27, 2022, it was put to the accused that when he knew Jozef had murdered Ms Murphy, he “bundled him up and sent him to Dublin” before giving instructions to dispose of the clothes.

The accused denied this and also denied that he had asked anyone to dispose of the knife.

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