A MAN “admitted to the murder” of Ashling Murphy when he told detectives: “When she pass, I cut her neck, she panic, I panic. Will I go for ten years?”, a court heard today.
Jozef Puska was brought in for questioning after the 23-year-old was stabbed to death near the Grand Canal in Tullamore, Offaly.
Anne-Marie Lawlor SC also told the Central Criminal Court jury that the accused told a detective: “I did it, I murdered, I am the murderer.”
At the time it had not been made public that the victim’s neck had been cut.
At the opening of his trial, Ms Lawlor said the evidence will show that Ms Murphy suffered 11 stab wounds to the right side of her neck in January last year.
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She said a scientist from the Forensic Science Laboratories will give evidence that DNA matching Mr Puska was found under Ms Murphy’s fingernails.
And CCTV is said to show Mr Puska in Tullamore in the hours before Ms Murphy died, cycling slowly in close proximity to two other women.
The lawyer added that Mr Puska’s “distinctive” bicycle was found at the scene where Ms Murphy’s body was found.
She said Mr Puska had cuts and scratches on “every exposed part of his body” consistent with him leaving the scene of the killing through the thick briars.
Ms Lawlor said that was “the only way to leave without being apprehended by people on the canal who had come across Ashling’s body”.
Two days after Ms Murphy’s death, gardai spoke to Mr Puska at St James’s Hospital in Dublin.
He was there with stab wounds to his abdomen which he said he suffered when he was attacked in Blanchardstown the previous evening.
Mr Puska’s claims about being stabbed were “a pack of lies”, Ms Lawlor said, designed to conceal the truth of Mr Puska’s involvement in murdering Ms Murphy.
While in hospital, Ms Lawlor said Det Gda Brian Jennings spoke to Mr Puska with the aid of a Slovakian interpreter who was on loudspeaker on the garda’s phone.
Ms Lawlor said the interpreter told gardai that Mr Puska “wants me to translate word for word what he is about to say”.
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'I DID IT'
The interpreter then translated: “I did it, I murdered, I am the murderer”, Ms Lawlor said.
Counsel added that Mr Puska continued: “I didn’t do it intentionally, I feel guilty and I am sorry.”
In a further exchange with a Detective Garda Fergus Hogan, Ms Lawlor said the accused told the garda in English that he was “sorry” and that he had never seen “the girl” before.
He also said that he had a knife that he used for the chain of his bike and “when she pass, I cut her neck, she panic, I panic. Will I go for ten years?”
Jozef Puska, 33, with an address at Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, Co Offaly, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Murphy at Cappincur, Tullamore, Co Offaly on January 12, 2022.
The victim had been working as a primary school teacher in Durrow at the time of her death.
'NO CONNECTION'
She went to the canal, near her home in Tullamore, to exercise after work and was killed at about 3.30pm.
The court heard there was “no connection directly or indirectly of any kind” between Ms Murphy and Mr Puska.
Ms Lawlor said two witnesses who came upon the scene will describe the “lone assailant” who had attacked Ms Murphy.
She added: “She was stabbed 11 times to the right side of her neck, there is no other inference to draw but that the person who did it intended to kill her or cause her serious injury.”
A bright green Falcon Storm mountain bike used by Mr Puska was found nearby.
DNA EVIDENCE
Mr Puska’s DNA was found on the handlebars and his fingerprint on the saddle, the lawyer said.
DNA samples were taken from Mr Puska and from under Ms Murphy’s fingernails.
The lawyer said there was a match and that the chance that the DNA under Ms Murphy’s fingernails belonged to anyone other than Mr Puska is one in 14,000.
There had been a stabbing in Blanchardstown the previous day and investigating gardai came to St James’ to speak to Mr Puska about his claim he had been stabbed.
What he said did not accord with what they understood about the incident in Blanchardstown, Ms Lawlor said.
Mr Puska then told them he had come to Dublin from Tullamore the previous day and they contacted their colleagues in the Midlands.
Ms Lawlor said the words Puska said through the interpreter the next day were Puska “accepting responsibility for having murdered Ashling Murphy’’.
'WILL I GO FOR TEN YEARS?'
Having “admitted to the murder” Ms Lawlor said the accused then told Det Gda Fergus Hogan in English that he was sorry, adding: “I’m family, five kids, I see girl I never see before, I have knife I use for chain, when she pass I cut her neck, she panic, I panic. Will I go for ten years?”
She said Mr Puska also pointed at his stomach where there had been “this apparent stabbing” and said: “I do this.”
For operational reasons, gardai had withheld Ms Murphy’s cause of death, counsel said.
But Mr Puska told Det Gda Hogan: “I cut her in the neck”.
Until that time, Det Gda Hogan did not know the cause of death but, Ms Lawlor said: “The murderer knew. Mr Puska knew and he told Det Gda Hogan how he had affected her death.”
Mr Puska remained in St James’s Hospital until January 18 when he was arrested and taken to Tullamore Garda Station. While there he was interviewed.
When shown a photograph of Ms Murphy, the accused said: “I didn’t see her, I don’t know her, I never saw her. First on this picture. I have never known her.”
The trial is continuing before the jury and Mr Justice Tony Hunt.
