Latest news with #CoOffaly
BBC News
3 days ago
- BBC News
Relatives of Ashling Murphy's killer guilty of impeding murder probe
Relatives of convicted killer Josef Puska have been found guilty by a court in the Republic of Ireland of charges relating to the aftermath of the killing of Ashling Murphy was stabbed to death by Josef Puska while walking along the banks of a canal close to her home in Tullamore, Co Offaly, in of the killer's brothers, Marek Puska and Lubomir Puska Jr, were found guilty at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin on Tuesday of withholding information knowing it might be of assistance in securing their brother's brothers' wives, Jozefina Grundzova and Viera Gaziova were found guilty of burning Jozef Puska's clothes in an effort to impede his prosecution. Jozef Puska's wife, Lucia Istokova, had pleaded guilty just before the trial started to withholding information about the included witnessing Jozef Puska arriving home with visible injuries, admitting killing or seriously injuring a woman with a knife, and that he owned a bicycle the gardaí were interested Istokova's plea can only be reported now as legal restrictions were in place while the trial of Jozef Puska's brothers and their wives was taking evidence the court was told that after murdering Ms Murphy, Puska went to the house he shared in Tullamore with his wife and their children as well as his two brothers and their lawyers argued that the brothers knew what Puska had done, and their wives knew why they were burning his clothes. Defence lawyers for the two brothers said that they were worried about incriminating five were remanded on continuing bail and the case will be mentioned on 7 July when a sentence date will be Murphy's mother and father, Kathleen and Ray, her sister Amy and brother Cathal were in court on Tuesday to hear the verdicts.
Irish Times
4 days ago
- Irish Times
Puska family trial: Jury to continue deliberations tomorrow
A jury will return to the Central Criminal Court tomorrow to consider its verdicts in the trial of family members of Jozef Puska who are charged with offences relating to obstructing his arrest for the murder of schoolteacher Ashling Murphy. The panel of seven men and five women began considering their verdict last Wednesday and have spent a total of 10 hours and five minutes deliberating. At 1.45pm, presiding judge Ms Justice Caroline Biggs told the jurors she would let them go for the day after they had previously asked to cease their deliberations at an earlier time on Monday. They will resume their deliberations at 11.30am tomorrow. READ MORE Jozef Puska (35) murdered Ms Murphy (23) on January 12th, 2022 while she exercised along the canal towpath outside Tullamore, Co Offaly. He was later convicted of murder and is serving a life sentence. His brothers, Lubomir Puska jnr (38) and Marek Puska (36) are charged with withholding information from gardaí. Their wives, Viera Gaziova (40) and Jozefina Grundzova (32) are charged with impeding the apprehension or prosecution of Puska by burning his clothes. All the accused were living with Puska, his wife Lucia, and 14 children at Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, Co Offaly when the offences are alleged to have occurred in January 2022. All accused have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Irish Times
5 days ago
- Irish Times
Trevor Deely, Philip Cairns and other missing-person cases will not be upgraded to murder
An Garda Síochána has decided not to upgrade any further unsolved missing persons cases to murder inquiries following the conclusion of a review that led to those of Fiona Pender and Elizabeth Clarke being revisited. This means the force has, for now, ruled out committing more resources in several other cases where foul play is suspected including those of Philip Cairns and Trevor Deely , who vanished in Dublin in 1986 and 2000 respectively. The news comes as a search for the remains of Annie McCarrick , whose case was in 2023 upgraded to a murder inquiry 30 years after her disappearance, continued at a house in Clondalkin, Dublin. [ 'We were full of hope': Aunt of Annie McCarrick says family disappointed after murder suspect released Opens in new window ] The decision to reclassify the cases of Ms Pender (25), who was seven months pregnant when she vanished from her home in Co Offaly in 1996, and that of Ms Clarke (24), who was last seen in Co Meath in 2013, resulted in extensive search and excavation operations taking place. These were carried out in Laois/Offaly last month in Ms Pender's case and in Co Meath last February in Ms Clarke's. READ MORE In response to queries, Garda headquarters confirmed a review of a large number of missing persons cases was completed last year. 'There were no other missing persons investigations at the time that required upgrading to homicide/murder' investigations, it said. 'The status of such missing person investigations is kept under regular review and can be upgraded if new information and/or evidence comes to light that justifies its upgrading.' In the McCarrick inquiry, the search at the Clondalkin property for the New York woman's remains, aided by a cadaver dog, has been ongoing since last Thursday. A businessman aged in his 60s was arrested last Thursday and released without charge on Friday. That man, the only person ever arrested as part of the 32-year-old investigation, knew Ms McCarrick (26) when she lived in Dublin and was close to her at one time. Gardaí arrested him and commenced the search after receiving new information from a witness that related to the man, who is now the chief suspect. The family currently living at the Clondalkin property bought the house about 15 years ago and have no connection whatsoever to Ms McCarrick or the Garda investigation. However, the house was previously linked to the chief suspect and Ms McCarrick is believed to have stayed there.
Irish Times
12-06-2025
- Irish Times
Puska family trial: jury to continue deliberations on Friday
A Central Criminal Court jury will continue their deliberations on Friday in the trial of four family members charged with offences relating to obstructing the arrest of the man who murdered schoolteacher Ashling Murphy . Jozef Puska murdered 23-year-old Ms Murphy by stabbing and slashing her neck after attacking her while she exercised along the canal towpath outside Tullamore on the afternoon of January 12th, 2022. A jury later convicted him of that murder and he is serving a life sentence. His brothers, Lubomir Puska jnr (38) and Marek Puska (36) are charged with withholding information. Their wives, Viera Gaziova (40) and Jozefina Grundzova (32) are charged with impeding the apprehension or prosecution of Jozef Puska by burning his clothes. READ MORE All the accused were living with Jozef Puska, his wife Lucia, and 14 children at Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, Co Offaly, when the offences are alleged to have occurred in January 2022. All accused have pleaded not guilty to all charges. The jury originally began its deliberations on Wednesday, but an amendment was made to the indictment on Thursday. The amendment relates to the charge that the accused knew that Jozef Puska had committed the offence of murder or some other arrestable offence. The amended indictment now reads that they knew he had committed the murder of Ashling Murphy or some other arrestable offence. In her closing speech earlier this week, prosecutor Anne-Marie Lawlor SC told the jury that Marek and Lubomir jnr knew what Jozef had done shortly after 9.30pm on the night of the murder because Jozef told Marek. Despite this, Ms Lawlor said Marek and Lubomir jnr failed to disclose vital information when they spoke to gardaí. Their wives burned Jozef's clothes to impede his arrest or prosecution, she said. The jury had previously heard from defence counsel Karl Finnegan SC, who said in his closing speech that Marek Puska was entitled to remain silent to avoid incriminating himself. Mr Finnegan said there was a real risk that the information his client had could implicate him in an offence of assisting his brother after the murder. He said the legislation regarding withholding information was introduced following the Omagh bombing to force people with knowledge of that atrocity to come forward. However, Mr Finnegan said, the legislation does not remove a person's right to remain silent if they believe that they could incriminate themselves. At the time, Mr Finnegan said, there was a real risk that his client would be arrested for assisting Puska after the murder by arranging to get him out of Tullamore or because he knew of the plan to burn Jozef's clothes. The jury of seven men and five women will continue their deliberations on Friday.
Irish Times
10-06-2025
- Irish Times
Jozef Puska's sisters-in-law could not have known about murder when they burned clothes, court hears
Jozef Puska's sisters-in-law could not have known and did not believe he murdered Ashling Murphy when they burned the clothes he was wearing at the time he murdered the schoolteacher, defence lawyers have told the Central Criminal Court . Lawyers for Jozefina Grundzova (32) and Viera Gaziova (40) delivered their closing speeches to a jury on Tuesday afternoon. The two women are on trial with their husbands, Marek Puska (36) and Lubomir Puska jnr (38). Jozef Puska, a brother of Marek and Lubomir jnr, murdered Ms Murphy (23) on January 12th, 2022 by stabbing her on the canal towpath outside Tullamore, Co Offaly. Marek and Lubomir jnr are on trial accused of withholding information relating to the murder while Ms Grundzova and Ms Gaziova are accused of impeding Puska's apprehension or prosecution by burning his clothes. READ MORE All accused have pleaded not guilty to all charges. They were all living with Puska, his partner Lucia, and 14 children at Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, Co Offaly when the offences are alleged to have occurred. The trial heard that in a statement to gardaí, Ms Gaziova said that on the night of the murder, Lubomir jnr and Marek spoke to Puska in his bedroom and afterwards, Lubomir jnr told her that Puska had 'confessed that he killed a girl'. Paul Murray SC, for Ms Grundzova, on Tuesday told the jury that for his client to be guilty, the jury must be satisfied that she knew what Puska had done when she helped Ms Gaziova to burn the clothes. Counsel told the jury that 'hindsight is a wonderful thing' but they must look at the circumstances in the Puska household in the immediate aftermath of the murder. When his client burned Puska's clothes, she did not have any of the evidence that would later prove his guilt, Mr Murray said. The nub of the prosecution case, counsel said, is that Ms Grundzova knew or believed Puska to be guilty of the murder at a time when gardaí had arrested a different person. Mr Murray asked the jury to return a verdict of not guilty. Prosecutor Anne Marie Lawlor SC previously told the jury that all the accused knew what Puska had done shortly after 9.30pm on the night of the murder. She said Jozef told Lubomir jnr and Marek, who then relayed it to the others in the house. Ms Lawlor said the only reason for the withholding of evidence or burning of clothes was that they didn't want Puska to be apprehended or prosecuted for murder. Damien Colgan SC, for Ms Gaziova, told the jury that the 'crux of the case' is whether his client knew that Puska had stabbed Ms Murphy. Her view at that time, Mr Colgan said, was that Puska had been the victim of an assault. When she was told what Puska had said he did, she didn't believe it because she 'didn't believe Jozef was capable of killing anybody'. Kathleen Leader SC, for Lubomir jnr, said her client delayed but did not withhold information. She said he had a reasonable excuse for the delay and asked the jury to consider the 'natural sense of protection for his younger brother'. She said it is understandable he was reluctant to accept his brother had 'committed a truly horrific murder'. Ms Leader said that by January 18th, Lubomir jnr was 'squarely supporting the prosecution', telling them everything he knew. Ms Leader said the law does not require people to be 'superhuman' as she asked the jury to acquit her client. Ms Justice Caroline Biggs has begun her charge to the jury and will continue tomorrow.
