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Irish Times
17-06-2025
- Irish Times
‘Make sure those clothes are burnt': How relatives aided Ashling Murphy killer Jozef Puska
Jozef Puska was soaking wet, ashen-faced, shaking with cold and covered in scratches and bruises when he arrived home about six hours after he had stabbed 23-year-old schoolteacher Ashling Murphy to death. By then, Ashling's violent killing led every news bulletin and flashed across social media. Another man, entirely innocent as it would later become clear, was in a Garda station being questioned on suspicion of her murder. It was obvious to the adults in the Puska household that Jozef (then 31, now 35) had been involved in something terrible. Much of the detail of how Jozef Puska murdered Ashling Murphy came out during his trial in 2023. The trial of his brothers Marek (36) and Lubomir jnr (38), and their wives Jozefina Grundzova (32) and Viera Gaziova (40), over the past few weeks gave insights into the Puskas' lives. Their statements, made in the days after the murder, give further detail of how the killer, his brothers and their wives tried to thwart the Garda investigation. READ MORE On Tuesday, a jury by unanimous verdict found Marek and Lubomir jnr guilty of withholding crucial information from investigating gardaí. Jozefina and Viera were found guilty by majority verdict of burning the killer's bloodstained clothes in an effort to obstruct his prosecution. All of them had pleaded not guilty to all charges. In a voluntary statement two days after Jozef Puska killed Ms Murphy, Marek Puska gave details of the family's background, of their moving from Slovakia to Czechia and finally to Ireland. Jozef arrived in Ireland in 2013 and lived in several places before, in 2020, securing a four-bedroom house in Lynally Grove in Mucklagh, Co Offaly, near Tullamore, with his partner Lucia Istokova and their five children. Soon Marek and Jozefina moved in with their six children and Lubomir jnr and Viera with their three. Marek spoke in glowing terms of their life together in Mucklagh. 'We don't feel alive without each other, we're so close,' he said. None of the three men was working. They spent their days sleeping, drinking coffee or beer and going into Tullamore by bike, car or taxi. Marek Puska and Jozefina Grundzova arrive at Central Criminal Court in Dublin during their trial last month. Photograph: Collins Courts Lubomir Puska and Viera Gaziona at the Central Criminal Court. Photograph: Collins Courts 'It was the golden times, the best of times. I swear to God, everyone says they don't see a family like this getting on. We sit and talk and don't argue. Any problems, we talk about it,' said Marek. He said they solved financial problems among themselves and the 'kids are at the top of everything and get everything'. Jozef he described as the 'go-to man' who would help everyone. On January 12th, 2022, Marek said he got up at around 12.30pm, 'the same as every day'. Lubomir jnr, the only person in the house with a car, had earlier taken the children to school, and at 11.30am brought Viera to the dentist in Tullamore. Lubomir jnr would tell gardaí that Jozef declined to go with them because Lucia was cooking scrambled eggs for him. About 30 minutes before Marek got up, Jozef finished his breakfast, drank a cup of coffee and left on his bicycle. Lucia told Marek she didn't know where Jozef had gone and that he had left his phone behind. 'I wanted to be with him,' Marek said, so he went to Tullamore to search for his brother. He said he tried a local casino and other regular haunts where people would know Jozef, but nobody had seen him. Marek returned home but left again, this time with Lubomir jnr, to continue the search. By now concerned about his whereabouts, they checked the emergency department at the hospital. When that turned up nothing, they reported Jozef missing at Tullamore Garda station. It was shortly after 5pm. By now, gardaí in Tullamore were focused on the inexplicable and brutal murder of Ashling Murphy, which had happened at about 3.30pm. Two women out running at Cappincur alerted gardaí after they stumbled across a man attacking Ashling in the briars on the steep bank by the canal towpath. Gardaí arrived within minutes but Jozef Puska had already escaped and there was no chance of saving the young teacher, who had suffered multiple, fatal stab wounds to her neck. Jozef Puska would spend the hours after the attack scrambling through thick briars and into a nearby field, then walking to the N52 and into Tullamore. Shortly after 9pm, he knocked on the door of Rostislav Pokuta, an acquaintance who drove a localschool bus. Pokuta was surprised to see Jozef Puska, who was soaking wet, white in the face and frightened looking. Jozef did not want to talk, other than to say he had been beaten up and to beg for a lift home. Pokuta agreed. In his original statement, Marek Puska did not mention seeing Jozef that night. Four days later he told gardaí he had more to say. Under caution, he said he and Lubomir jnr had been in Tullamore looking for Jozef, when Lubomir jnr got a call saying Jozef was at home and 'in a poor state, beaten up'. After his arrest on January 26th, Marek gave further details. By the time he got home, he said, he was crying because he is sensitive about his brother. He and Lubomir jnr went into Jozef's room and closed the door. The accounts given by Jozef Puska of what had happened were described as 'obvious nonsense' and 'garbled lies' by barristers in the trial. Marek told gardaí that Jozef claimed he was trying to take his own life by stabbing himself in the stomach when a woman came upon him and tried to pull the knife away. Recalling the same story multiple times, Marek gave differing accounts of what Jozef had said. Members of Jozef Puska's family (all with back to camera and hoods) enter a side door of Tullamome courthouse in December 2023. Photograph: Colin Keegan/Collins In one, he had Jozef in pain on the ground with holes in his abdomen when the woman grabbed his hand and tried to drag it away before he 'cut her ... around the neck area'. In another account, he said Jozef 'struck out and cut her' but said the latter couldn't remember what else he had done. Jozef knew it was 'probably bad' but then didn't want to talk about it any more. In another account, he said Jozef told him he 'cut her with a knife' while they were 'fighting on the ground'. [ Who is Jozef Puska? From anonymous father-of-five to notorious killer Opens in new window ] Marek, crying, told his wife Jozefina that Jozef had 'hurt this woman' and that he 'must have killed her'. Somebody contacted Jozef's parents, who travelled to Mucklagh. Viera Gaziova would later tell gardaí that Jozef's mother was 'visibly afraid' and demanded to know who had beaten up her son. She begged Jozef to go with her back to Dublin. He went with his parents. With Jozef gone to Dublin, the family in Lynally Grove discussed what they had heard while Lubomir jnr poured shots of vodka for everyone. Each would tell gardaí they didn't believe the various accounts that Jozef had stabbed or cut or killed a woman. Viera spoke to gardaí on January 17th and 18th. By then the family had been moved to the Central Hotel in Tullamore. Gardaí wore plain clothes and were careful not to draw attention to the family at the centre of a national outcry. Viera said Jozef had scratches on his face and was 'shaking uncontrollably' when he arrived home on the night of the murder. She said that Lubomir jnr and Lucia went to Dublin the following day, but that Jozef had been admitted to St James's Hospital for surgery on stab wounds to his abdomen. While Jozef convalesced, Viera said Lubomir jnr called her using Facebook Messenger to say that Jozef had asked him to 'make sure that those clothes are burnt'. She knew what he meant. Jozef had left his wet clothes in a bundle on the bathroom floor and Viera had taken them to the kitchen and placed them beside the bin. She said she waited until the following morning after the children had gone to school. She lit the fire using paper and briquettes and let it burn for about an hour, until it was 'very strong'. She took the clothes out of the bag, starting with the tracksuit top and T-shirt, which were stuck together as though Jozef had taken them off in one go. [ Murder of Ashling Murphy 'a monstrous crime that shocked the nation', senior garda says Opens in new window ] Jozefina, who helped by burning the socks, would tell gardaí that she noticed 'blood around the lower half of the T-shirt.' When gardaí asked Viera why she had 'misled the investigation' by failing to mention in her previous statement that she had destroyed evidence, she said: 'We were afraid of the guards when they came. Nothing like this ever happened before. I was afraid I would end up on the street with my children. I was shaking. I didn't want to say because I was afraid the whole family would go against me.'
BreakingNews.ie
10-06-2025
- BreakingNews.ie
No proof Puska's sisters-in-law knew he murdered Ashling Murphy when they burnt clothes, court hears
Jozef Puska's sisters-in-law could not have known, and did not believe, that he murdered Ashling Murphy when they burned the clothes he was wearing at the time he stabbed 23-year-old schoolteacher to death, defence lawyers have told the Central Criminal Court. Lawyers for Jozefina Grundzova (32) and Viera Gaziova (40) delivered their closing speeches to a jury this afternoon. The two women are on trial with their husbands, Marek Puska (36) and Lubomir Puska Jnr (38). Advertisement Jozef Puska, a brother of Marek and Lubomir Jnr, murdered Ashling Murphy on January 12th, 2022, by stabbing her in the neck on the canal towpath outside Tullamore, Co Offaly. Marek and Lubomir Jnr are on trial, accused of withholding information relating to the murder, while Ms Grundzova and Ms Gaziova are accused of impeding Jozef's apprehension or prosecution by burning his clothes. All the accused were living with Jozef Puska, his wife Lucia, and 14 children at Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, Co Offaly when the offences are alleged to have occurred in January 2022. All accused have pleaded not guilty to all charges. Advertisement Paul Murray SC, for Ms Grundzova, told the jury on Tuesday that for his client to be guilty, the jury must be satisfied that she knew what Jozef had done when she helped Ms Gaziova to burn the clothes. Counsel told the jury that "hindsight is a wonderful thing", but they must look at the circumstances in the Puska household in the immediate aftermath of the murder. When his client burned Puska's clothes, she did not have any of the evidence that would later prove Jozef's guilt, Mr Murray said. At that time, about 24 hours after the murder, gardaí also didn't know because they had arrested and were questioning the wrong man, Mr Murray said. Advertisement All Ms Grundzova knew, counsel said, was second-hand information that had been relayed to her regarding conversations between Jozef Puska and others in the household. Jozef had said numerous things which were "obvious nonsense" and "garbled lies", along with the truth - that he had stabbed or killed a girl. Ms Grundzova could not have known that the true part was that Jozef had murdered Ashling Murphy and that the rest was nonsense, counsel said. She, like the others in the household, didn't believe that Jozef could be capable of such a thing. The nub of the prosecution case, counsel said, is that Ms Grundzova knew or believed Jozef Puska to be guilty of the murder of Ashling Murphy at a time when gardaí themselves had arrested an entirely different person. Mr Murray asked the jury to return a verdict of not guilty. Prosecutor Anne Marie Lawlor SC has previously told the jury that all the accused knew what Jozef had done shortly after 9.30pm on the night of the murder. Advertisement She said Jozef told Lubomir Jnr and Marek, who then relayed it to the others in the house. Ms Lawlor said the only reason for the withholding of evidence or burning of clothes was that they didn't want Jozef to be apprehended or prosecuted for murder. Damien Colgan SC, for Ms Gaziova, told the jury that the "crux of the case" is whether his client knew that Jozef Puska had stabbed Ms Murphy. Her view at that time, Mr Colgan said, was that Jozef had been the victim of an assault. When she was told what Jozef had said he did, she didn't believe it because she "didn't believe Jozef was capable of killing anybody". Kathleen Leader SC, for Lubomir Jnr, said her client delayed but did not withhold information. She said he had a reasonable excuse for the delay and asked the jury to consider the "natural sense of protection for his younger brother". She said it is understandable that Lubomir Jnr was reluctant to accept that his brother had "committed a truly horrific murder". Advertisement The family was "particularly close", she said, living together as six adults and 14 children in a four-bed home. Lubomir told gardaí that their relationship was "full of love". When Jozef left the house early on the 12th and returned that night with visible injuries, the initial concern among the close knit family was, Ms Leader said, "not that Jozef had behaved in a criminal manner, much less that he had murdered someone, but that Jozef himself had been hurt in some way." Lubomir Jnr spoke to gardaí on January 14th, 16th and 18th. Ms Leader said the statements reveal the progression of a man "coming to terms with something awful that was not of his doing." She added: "He is working his way to a place where he is able to leave the bonds of family and brotherhood and love and all that entails, to where he discharges his other obligation to society as a whole, which is what he did." Ms Leader said that by January 18th, Lubomir was "squarely supporting the prosecution", telling them everything he knew. She reminded the jury that he said, "If you find out it was him, well, let him. He is going to pay for what he did." Ireland Jozef Puska's brother withheld information to prot... Read More Ms Leader asked the jury to think of someone they love. She added: "Think of that person coming home, out of the blue, and telling you they had done something so truly awful, something you hadn't imagined in your wildest dreams. Was it reasonable in those circumstances to disclose the information in stages?" Ms Leader said the law does not require people to be "superhuman" as she asked the jury to acquit her client. Ms Justice Caroline Biggs has begun her charge to the jury and will continue on Wednesday.
BreakingNews.ie
27-05-2025
- General
- BreakingNews.ie
Jozef Puska was 'a bit sad' on day of Ashling Murphy murder, court hears
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 gardaí 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. Advertisement 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 12th, 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. Advertisement 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. Marek Puska (L) and Lubomir Puska (R) are accused of withholding information that was crucial to the investigation into Ashling Murphy's murder in January 2022. Photos: Collins 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. On Tuesday, Det Gda Joanne O'Sullivan told prosecution senior counsel Sean Gillane that Lubomir jnr made voluntary statements at Tullamore Garda Station on January 14th and 16th, 2022. Advertisement 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. Advertisement Ireland Clare man (76) pleads guilty to assisting unlawful... Read More 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 gardaí 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.
