Ashling Murphy trial: Accused in ‘very low spirits, even desperate’ after making ‘confession’ to murder

A man accused of the murder of Ashling Murphy was in “very low spirits, even desperate” after making a “confession” to murder two days after Ms Murphy’s body was found, a jury at the Central Criminal Court has been told.

Miroslav Sedlacek said he translated a “confession” made by Jozef Puska in St James’s Hospital in Dublin on January 14th, 2022.

He said Mr Puska had asked him to tell a Garda “exactly what I tell you, that I did it, that I killed her but please tell him also that I did not do it intentionally, that I didn’t want to do it and that I’m very sorry that I did it, that it happened”.

He was giving evidence in the continuing trial of Mr Puska (33), of Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, Co Offaly.

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A native of Slovakia living here 12 years, Mr Puska has, through an interpreter, pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms Murphy (23), at Cappincur, Tullamore, on January 12th, 2022.

John Hoade, a forensic scientist, said he obtained a full DNA profile from swabs taken from the handlebars of a Falcon Storm bicycle which matched two other profiles of Mr Puska’s, one from swabs taken at St James’s Hospital, and one from swabs taken when he was in custody on January 18th, 2022.

The chances of the profile belonging to someone else were one in a billion, he said.

Mr Puska, the jury has also heard, was admitted to St James’s Hospital on January 13th, 2022, having said he was stabbed in the stomach during an incident in Blanchardstown the previous day, and was still in the hospital on January 14th after having surgery.

On Thursday, Mr Sedlacek told Anne-Marie Lawlor SC, for the DPP, he was engaged by gardaí on the phone on January 14th, 2022 to translate from Slovak to English and vice versa.

The first engagement, about lunchtime, concerned the stabbing incident in Blanchardstown and how Mr Puska travelled from Tullamore to Blanchardstown, and Mr Puska was also asked questions about a bicycle, he said.

The second engagement, around 6pm, concerned a warrant to take Mr Puska’s belongings, and gardaí told him that was because there was an investigation into a murder in Tullamore the previous day, he said.

A garda asked Mr Puska had he any information about that and Mr Puska said he had some information from the internet, not too much, he said.

Mr Puska wanted to know if he was a suspect and what relation the warrant had to him, he said.

The garda said he was not a suspect, he was “a person of interest”. Mr Puska did not know what that meant and the garda explained it was not like a suspect but a person the gardaí pay attention to or are interested in, Mr Sedlacek said.

At this point, he “remembered very well” Mr Puska asked him to translate “his confession accurately and exactly”, Mr Sedlacek said. “That was still between me and him and was quite spontaneous and everything came quickly.”

He said he told the garda Mr Puska had decided to provide this statement and he translated what Mr Puska had said.

The garda cautioned Mr Puska and asked him if he had a solicitor. Mr Puska said he said he did not but would maybe get one in the future, he said.

Mr Puska then had questions for the garda, all related to his family and his concern for their safety, he said. Mr Puska’s voice had “changed significantly” during the evening conversation and was “quite different” from the morning one, “especially after he made the confession, he was quite emotional”, his voice was “trembling” and his sentences “quite disjointed”, he said.

He would describe him “in very low spirits, even desperate, after the confession”.

In cross-examination, Mr Sedlacek agreed with Michael Bowman SC, for Mr Puska, the first engagement on January 14th lasted 44 minutes and the second 23 minutes.

He agreed he referred in a statement to gardaí “interrogating” Mr Puska.

He believed a garda provided a summary of a search warrant to Mr Puska but did not remember exactly what was said. Mr Puska had asked was he a suspect and the garda had replied: “No, you’re a person of interest”, he said.

There was a pause of maybe 30 seconds and he believed “some thinking” was going on in Mr Puska’s mind. Mr Puska then asked him to translate the “confession”.

Mr Sedlacek agreed he was not physically in the hospital room and said he assumed gardaí were writing down what Mr Puska said because “it took some time”.

He agreed Mr Puska had asked what would happen next and was told he would stay in hospital until completely recovered and would then be transferred to Tullamore station for interview.

In re-examination, he told Ms Lawlor, when he used the word “interrogate”, he meant “simply interview, the positive sense”.

Earlier, Rosalind Gillen said she was the site nurse manager in St James’s Hospital on January 14th, 2022, and was aware Mr Puska was a patient there.

After a garda told her she had a search warrant, Ms Gillen said she arranged for Mr Puska to be moved from a ward to a single room for privacy.

In cross-examination by Michael Bowman SC, she said there was no request from gardaí to speak to a treating doctor or concerning whether Mr Puska was fit to have gardaí deal with him.

In re-examination by Ms Lawlor, Ms Gillen said she did not know if a treating physician would have been present as it was a Friday evening.

Det Sgt William Delaney said he was involved in the investigation into the killing of Ms Murphy and was aware an identity parade was organised on January 13th involving nine men who matched a general description provided by a witness, Jenna Stack.

The jury has heard Ms Stack had identified one of the nine as a man whom she saw along the Grand Canal on January 12th, 2022.

Sgt Delaney agreed with Mr Bowman that Ms Stack had identified a named man.

The jury previously heard that man was not Mr Puska and was arrested and released without charge. The witness said he had no other involvement with that man.

He agreed with Ms Lawlor, for the DPP, that an identity parade was not “an exact science”.

The nine people on the parade were not ethnically similar and some were Irish nationals, he said.

The trial continues on Friday.