A jury has convicted murderer Jozef Puska’s two brothers of withholding crucial information from gardaí investigating the murder of schoolteacher Ashling Murphy.
The two men’s wives have also been found guilty of burning the killer’s bloodstained clothes in an effort to obstruct his prosecution.
All the defendants had pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
Jozef Puska (35) murdered Ms Murphy (23) on January 12th, 2022, by repeatedly stabbing her after attacking her while she exercised on the canal towpath near Tullamore, Co Offaly. He was convicted of her murder and is serving a life sentence.
The Central Criminal Court jury on Tuesday accepted the prosecution’s case that his brothers, Lubomir Jnr (38) and Marek (36) misled gardaí by failing to disclose crucial and vital information when they gave witness statements.
The jury also found their wives – Viera Gaziova (40) and Jozefina Grundzova (32) – had burned Jozef Puska’s clothes to impede his arrest or prosecution.
The 12 jurors unanimously found the brothers guilty, while the two women were found guilty by majority verdicts, 11-1 in Gaziova’s case and 10-2 in Grundzova’s.
All four were living with Jozef Puska, his wife Lucia, and 14 children at Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, Co Offaly, when the offences occurred in January 2022.
It was the State’s case that the two brothers misled gardaí and withheld “crucial, relevant and significant” information when they gave voluntary interviews in Tullamore two days after Ms Murphy’s death. This included information that Jozef Puska returned home on the night of the murder with visible injuries, admitted to killing or seriously injuring a woman with a knife and subsequently travelled to Dublin.
In her closing speech, prosecutor Anne Marie Lawlor SC told the jury that all the defendants knew what Jozef Puska had done shortly after 9.30pm on the day of the murder.
She said Jozef Puska told his accused brothers, who then relayed it to the others in the house. Ms Lawlor said the only reason for the withholding of evidence or the burning of clothes was that the defendants did not want Jozef Puska to be apprehended or prosecuted for murder.
The 12 jurors at the Central Criminal Court gave their verdict in relation to the two brothers after deliberating for 13 hours and 40 minutes over five days, before returning again to the courtroom 16 minutes later to reveal their decisions on the charges against the two women.
Ms Justice Caroline Biggs thanked the panel of seven men and five women for their service and excused them from jury service for life.
There were 12 days of pretrial hearings prior to a jury being sworn to hear the trial, during which each of the accused had the benefit of a senior and junior counsel.
During the course of the trial, which began on May 19th, a further three days were taken up with legal arguments and rulings.
Despite their not guilty pleas, Lubomir Puska Jnr had admitted to gardaí that he lied about not having seen Jozef Puska after 11.30am on the day of the murder, while his wife, Gaziova, and sister-in-law, Grundzova, told gardaí they had burned clothes.
Following the verdicts, Seán Gillane SC, prosecuting, told the court that there was “another issue” in that Jozef Puska’s wife, Lucia Istokova (36), had pleaded guilty to withholding information from gardaí investigating the murder before the trial commenced on May 19th.
Mr Gillane told the judge the four defendants could be listed “for mention only” along with Istokova on July 7th and said the court could be updated on reports then.
Ms Justice Biggs agreed to the application and went on to order probation reports for each of the defendants, who were remanded on continuing bail.
