Gardaí sifted through fireplace ashes at Puska home, trial hears
The trial of four of Jozef Puska's family members, who are accused of withholding information, has heard of how gardaí sifted through ashes in the fireplace at his home looking for evidence the clothes he wore when he murdered Ashling Murphy had been burned.
Detective Sergeant Anthony Quinn told the trial of Jozef Puska's two brothers, and sisters-in-law, that six days after Jozef Puska murdered Ms Murphy, gardaí became aware that the then suspect's clothes may have been burned in the fireplace at the Puska home in Mucklagh, Tullamore, Co Offaly.
Det Sgt Quinn told the Central Criminal Court he went to the house with a colleague, introduced himself and took photos of anything of note.
He said the fireplace was intact and the grate was full of ashes. He and his colleague sifted through the ashes, looking for buttons, zippers, clasps or "that kind of thing", but found nothing of note.
They bagged the ashes to be preserved for forensic examination.
Jozef's brothers, Marek, aged 34 and Lubomir Jnr, aged 35, are accused of withholding crucial information.
It is alleged that Marek Puska failed to disclose that Jozef had returned home on the night of Ashling's murder with visible injuries and admitted to killing or causing serious injury to a woman. It is further alleged that he knew of the arrangement to burn Jozef's clothes and that Jozef Puska travelled to Dublin later that night.
It is alleged that Lubomir Puska Jnr also withheld that Jozef returned home with visible injuries, admitted to "cutting a female", and travelled to Dublin.
Both men have pleaded not guilty to the offences, which are charged under the Offences Against the State, Amendment Act 1988.
Jozefina Grundzova, aged 31, who is married to Marek Puska, and 38-year-old Viera Gaziova, who is married to Lubomir Puska Jnr, are accused of assisting in burning clothing between 12 and 14 January, 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.
Ms Grundzova and Ms Gaziova 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 trial also heard today from eyewitness Jenna Stack, who saw Ms Murphy, a 23-year-old schoolteacher, fighting for her life having suffered multiple stab wounds to the neck.
Ms Stack told prosecution counsel Anne-Marie Lawlor SC that she was running with her friend, Aoife Marron, along the canal towpath near Cappincur Bridge in Tullamore on 12 January 2022 when she noticed a distinctive, luminous green bicycle in the hedgerow.
She thought it unusual to see a nice bike discarded on the bank, so she stopped for a moment before running on. A few metres further along the towpath, she heard a loud rustling noise from the hedgerow and stopped again.
Ms Marron shouted down, but there was no reply besides the "loud rustling" from the dense thicket and brambles, Ms Stack said. The witness stepped closer and saw a man's back. She asked him what he was doing, and when he turned to face her, she noticed a woman on the ground. Ms Stack said: "She was kicking her legs, that was the sound we had heard. She was raising her legs and kicking out really hard."
Ms Stack told the man to "get off her", but he shouted back through gritted teeth and in a foreign accent, "get away". His facial expression seemed angry, she said, "angry that he had been interrupted". Ms Stack thought he was going to rape the woman.
She added: "He made a sudden movement, maybe to frighten us. I knew the girl was struggling and in danger and we were very frightened."
Ms Stack shouted that she was calling the guards and ran the short distance to Cappincur Bridge with Ms Marron to get help.
The trial continues before Ms Justice Caroline Biggs and a jury of seven men and five women.
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Mr Justice McDermott sentenced the two rapists to a sentence of seven and a half years of detention, with the final 18 months suspended on a number of conditions, including that they engage in sexual offending programmes and have no contact whatsoever with the complainant. The judge noted this means that part of their sentence will be served in prison. He sentenced the third defendant to five years in jail as he is now over the age of 18 years. He suspended the final 18 months of this sentence on the same conditions. The three boys stood trial at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork earlier this year, with two of the boys (now aged 16 and 17) found guilty of sexually assaulting and raping the then 16-year-old girl in a car at the racecourse on December 26, 2022. They were 13 and 15 years old at the time. The third boy (now 18) was found guilty by the jury of four counts of aiding and abetting the rapes and sexual assaults following the six-week trial. The court heard he moved the car during the course of the attack. He was aged 15 at the time. He was acquitted of one count of false imprisonment. Video clips were taken of the incident by one of the boys, including one clip of the girl walking away from the car after she had been raped. When she found her friends, she was extremely upset and immediately told them what had happened to her, the court heard. The boys denied raping the girl, telling gardaí differing versions of events including one who said he was in Dublin on the day in question. They all eventually claimed it was a consensual encounter. Detective Garda Lisa O'Regan told Dean Kelly SC, prosecuting, that the girl was socialising with her friends at the racecourse on the day in question. She was, in her own words, 'really drunk' when she got chatting to the three boys, Mr Kelly said. The court heard she agreed to go for a walk with one of the boys because she wanted to kiss him. Instead, she found herself in a car belonging to one of the boy's fathers where she was sexually assaulted and raped by two of them. The third boy moved the car at one point during the attack. The girl said she told the boys 'No' repeatedly and that she was on her period and had a tampon in. She said she told them she needed to go back to her friends, but they repeatedly said no and that she was 'fine'. When medically examined later that evening, she was found to have extensive bleeding and bruising. She was a virgin prior to the attack. The complainant (now aged 18) was not in court for the sentence hearing in Dublin. In a victim statement read out on her behalf by counsel, she described her fear and anxiety in the aftermath of the attack, during which she was 'begging them to get off me'. 'At the age of 16, I had my innocence stripped away from me,' she said. 'These two (boys) took what they wanted with no regrets.' She said her parents had to hear every 'vulgar' and 'gruesome' detail of what happened to her and that she will 'forever have guilt on my shoulders - not just for how it affected me, but everyone around me'. 'They not only took away the rest of my childhood, they took away the rest of my life,' she said. 'At the age of 16, I was raped. This is always something I will have to carry around. But what I can do is live with the fact that I told the truth.' The court heard the boys, who are all cousins, have no previous convictions. They are all in detention or custody since the guilty verdicts were handed down last April. The case was previously adjourned for a number of weeks for preparation of probation reports. Cathal McGreal, BL, defending the youngest of the three boys, said his client was then aged 13 and had no previous convictions. He said that a report before the court described him as mild-mannered, introverted and vulnerable from a mental health point of view. Counsel said his client made admissions and described him as 'not a particularly mature 13-year-old, and this was his first sexual experience'. The court heard that the boy's father and his family do not accept the verdict. Mr McGreal said his client wants to pursue his Junior Certificate and is interested in becoming a mechanic or a builder. He is against drugs and alcohol and wants to marry his girlfriend. Vincent Heneghan SC, defending the then 15-year-old boy, said his client comes from a 'good supportive family' and they are concerned for him. He stated that his client does not accept the jury's verdict and that this will limit any potential mitigation. Counsel said his client presents as intermittently distressed since going into custody and is not sleeping well. He said he is engaging in education and sport while in Oberstown. Mr Henaghan said the defendant has no issues with drugs or alcohol and outlined that there was no pre-planning to this offending. He asked the court to consider the reports that were before the court on behalf of his client and requested that the court be as lenient as possible. Donal Cronin BL, defending the third boy, said his sexual knowledge at the time was limited. He outlined that his client has no issues with drink or drugs and that sport has formed a major part of his life. Mr Cronin asked the court to fashion a sentence that would mark the wrongdoing but also include rehabilitation. He asked the court to consider the mitigating factors, including his client's culpability, his involvement and the fact he was a child at the time.
