Wife and brothers of killer Jozef Puska to go on trial tomorrow
The wife and brothers of murderer Jozef Puska are scheduled to go on trial tomorrow over allegedly withholding information that could have led to his prosecution.
Marek, 34, and Lubomir Puska, 35, are charged with withholding information that could have led to the arrest or prosecution of their brother Jozef Puska for the murder of 23-year-old schoolteacher Ashling Murphy in January 2022.
Puska's wife Lucia Istokova, 34, is also charged with withholding information on a date unknown between January 12, 2022 and January 27, 2022 at Tullamore Garda Station.
All three are accused of failing without reasonable excuse to disclose as soon as was practicable to a member of An Garda Siochana information which they are alleged to have known or believed might be of material assistance in securing the apprehension, prosecution or conviction of Jozef Puska for the murder of Ashling Murphy.
The offences are contrary to Section 9 of the Offences Against the State (Amendment) Act 1998.
The trio are set to appear before Judge Paul McDermott in the Central Criminal Court on Monday morning.
They have all been on bail since being charged and first appearing before Tullamore District Court in December 2023.
Jozef Puska is currently serving a life sentence for Ms Murphy's murder after a lengthy and highly publicised trial in 2023.
Two other women have also been charged in connection with the same case - but with separate offences. Jozefina Grundzova, 31, and Viera Gazoiva, 38, are charged with impeding the apprehension of Jozef Puska.
Both women are accused of committing the offence on a date unknown between January 12, 2022 and January 14, 2022 at an address in Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, Co Offaly.
In particular where another person committed the murder of Ms Murphy, she's accused of knowing or believing that person to be guilty of the said offence or some other arrestable offence and without reasonable excuse acting with intent to impede that person's apprehension or prosecution.
The offence is contrary to Section 7(2) and (4) of the Criminal Law Act, 1997.
Jozef Puska brutally stabbed Ms Murphy 12 times and sliced her neck in a random and shocking attack while she was out for a run at the canal in Tullamore.
His sentence came after harrowing and extremely powerful victim impact statements from Ms Murphy's partner Ryan Casey, her mother Kathleen, and sister Amy.
Mr Casey became tearful and emotional throughout his powerful speech, in which he turned to the killer sitting in the dock and said: 'I don't care where you end up, or what happens to you after today.
'But you smirked, you smiled, and you showed zero remorse throughout this trail, which sums up who you really are, the epitome of pure evil, but one thing is for sure, you will never ever harm or touch another woman ever again and when your day of reckoning comes, may you be in hell a whole half hour before God even knows you're dead.'
In her own victim impact statement, which was read out by family liaison officer Sergeant Lucy McLoughlin, Ashling's mother Kathleen told of a heartbreaking final conversation she had with her daughter on the day she was killed - warning her not to go running by the canal.
'Before she left that morning, Ashling told me she was going to be home from school a little bit later that afternoon.
'She was going for a jog on the canal line after work. I begged her not to go there as it has always made me feel ill at ease and asked her to go jogging out near home.
'She responded, 'Ah mum, I am 23 years old.' She gave me a big hug as she said, 'I love you, you're the best mum in the world,' and walked out the door,' she said.
'As a parent you want your child to go out into this world and live a full and meaningful life yet being acutely aware of how fragile their safety is, wanting to protect them. I couldn't protect my darling Ashling and now she's gone forever.'
Ashling's sister Amy said she was haunted by the thought that no one was able to save her sister - and how she fought for her life.
Speaking directly to Puska, who refused to look at her, she said: 'I agonise over whether you had already inflicted your first blow before she was hurled off the canal pavement.
'Had you time to place your bike down into the ditch as you knew she had already sustained a fatal injury and the rest was yet to come.
'Ashling's last 10 minutes on this earth must have felt like the longest 10 minutes of her existence as she fought for her life. You stole her life, you took her voice, you robbed us of our family of five.'
Following the incredible statements, Judge Tony Hunt said there was nothing further that he could add.
He told the court that Puska's sentence was 'richly deserved' before saying that the one question that remains unanswered is 'the why.'
He said that "unless that becomes known, the question of your safe return to society must be an open one."
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