Murder accused denies prosecution claim he stabbed Ashling Murphy 11 times

A man on trial for the murder of school-teacher Ashling Murphy has denied he stabbed her 11 times “and sliced her neck with the 12th wound”.

When that suggestion was put to Jozef Puska on Friday by Anne Marie Lawlor SC, for the DPP, he replied: “No, it wasn’t me.”

He agreed he knew Ms Murphy was dying when he was beside her in a ditch on the Grand Canal on the afternoon she died.

Mr Puska (33), a native of Slovakia and father of five living here 10 years with an address at Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, Co Offaly, has, through an interpreter, pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms Murphy (23), at Cappincur, Tullamore, on January 12th, 2022.

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Mr Puska had told the jury in his direct evidence earlier he had been stabbed in the stomach by a man wearing a face mask when he was cycling along the canal, had then seen that man attack Ms Murphy and tried to help her as she lay on the ground injured.

During cross-examination, when Ms Lawlor asked if he was urgently trying to assist Ms Murphy, he said: “I was trying to help her with what was in my power but I had no experience in medical care.”

Asked did he “just stay there and watch Ashling Murphy die”, he said he left a few moments after the other man left.

“I thought I can’t help her, it is not in my power, then I left.”

Denying he then “hid” in a ditch for four hours, he said he had “no strength and could not continue”.

He disagreed that he was not trying to help Ms Murphy and there was “no other man”.

Ms Lawlor put to him that Ms Murphy, “in a desperate attempt to save herself, scratched you” and his DNA was under her fingernails as a result.

He replied: “I was by her, yes, there is a possibility my DNA was there but I know she had gloves. It’s strange.”

Ms Lawlor said that was “not the most strange thing” and put to him he had “lied consistently” in the murder investigation. He agreed he lied about some matters, including alleging he was stabbed in an incident in Blanchardstown on January 13th.

“And you’re lying today,” Ms Lawlor said. Mr Puska replied: “I am saying to you what I remember.”

After Mr Puska’s evidence concluded on Friday, Mr Justice Tony Hunt sent the jury away until Monday. He told them there is one more witness before the evidence concludes.

Face mask

In direct evidence on Friday, Mr Puska told his counsel Michael Bowman SC he was attacked by a man wearing a face mask and dark clothing while cycling between Digby Bridge and the N52 flyover on January 12th, 2022.

He said the man pulled a knife and “started threatening me that he would hurt me, he would kill me” and stabbed him twice in the stomach.

After a few moments, he said, a woman appeared whom he did not know and said something to the man.

Mr Puska said the man stabbed him again before he went towards the woman. They disappeared into the bushes while he was on the ground. He said he stood and went a few metres and saw them in the bushes and the man attacked the woman.

Mr Puska said he shouted at the man who came towards him but then ran towards the N52.

Mr Puska said he tried to help the injured woman on the ground and to use her shawl or scarf to cover her injuries.

After a few minutes, another woman appeared and said something to him he did not understand, he said. This was when he stood up and pulled his leg really hard and shouted. He said the woman and another person on the pavement ran.

He denied that Jenna Stack, who has given evidence she saw a man crouched over a girl, had told him she was going to call the Garda.

While he was in the ditch with Ms Murphy, he said he was afraid the man who had attacked him would come back, he said. He told the court he was “scared and in shock and really stressed”, and stayed in a ditch or sewage drain for a few hours because he felt “sick, really unwell”.

He went in darkness to the home of a friend who agreed to bring him home to Mucklagh from where he went later that night to his parents’ home in Crumlin, Dublin. While there, he realised his injuries must be serious and went to hospital the following day, he said.

He had heard evidence he made admissions in hospital he had killed Ashling Murphy but said he could not agree with that. “I don’t remember that day at all,” Mr Puska said.

Asked if his evidence was that he had not harmed Ms Murphy, he said: “Yes, this is the truth.”

Under cross-examination, when asked what happened to the clothes he was wearing at the canal on January 12th, he said he asked for those to be burned at home.

He said he could not agree he had “confessed” to a murder because he could not recall it.

Ms Lawlor put to him he had confessed to a murder, was now saying he was a witness to it and had “concocted another set of lies” for this jury.

“I said what I remember from the day of 12th January,” he replied.

Asked had he “memory problems all of your life”, he said: “I have a feeling I have a problem, very often it happens that I forget things but I did not speak to a doctor about it.”

Asked about his cycling around Tullamore on January 12th and the prosecution case he was in close proximity to two women, he disagreed he had “a habit of following women around Tullamore”. He said the manner in which he cycled on January 12th was the same way he always cycled.

He said he was unconscious while in the sewage drain and believed he was there for three hours.

In reply to Mr Justice Hunt, who said he understood a loss of consciousness comes from a head injury, Mr Puska said he did not have a head injury when he was in the drain.

The trial continues on Monday.