A garda sergeant has told the Central Criminal Court that the man accused of the murder of schoolteacher Ashling Murphy was upset and crying as he admitted he did it two days later.
The court heard Jozef Puska also told gardaí he cut Ms Murphy's neck and she panicked.
Mr Puska has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms Murphy, who was 23, on 12 January last year.
Sergeant Brian Jennings told the court he had gone to St James's Hospital, where Mr Puska was a patient, on the evening of 14 January 2022.
Gardaí had been granted a search warrant to search the hospital in connection with the investigation into the murder of Ms Murphy.
Sgt Jennings said he asked to speak to Mr Puska because they were seizing his possessions.
Mr Puska was brought to a single room. The sergeant said they rang an interpreter and put him on loudspeaker. He said Mr Puska was awake and alert.
Sgt Jennings said he asked Mr Puska if he had heard about the murder. He said Mr Puska said he had and asked if he was a suspect.
He told Mr Puska he was a person of interest. He told the court that there was a notable pause and that Mr Puska then spoke with the interpreter.
The interpreter said Mr Puska was making an official statement. Sgt Jennings was told Mr Puska was admitting he committed the murder.
The interpreter said Mr Puska said "I did it. I murdered. I am the murderer".
Sgt Jennings said he immediately cautioned Mr Puska that he did not have to say anything further and offered him a solicitor.
Mr Puska said he wanted a solicitor and Sgt Jennings said he tried to stop the conversation. However he said Mr Puska continued and said the reason he was pleading guilty was because he did not want anything bad to happen to his family.
He said he felt guilty and that he regretted it.
Through the interpreter, Mr Puska said he did not do it intentionally and asked if his family would be safe.
Sgt Jennings said he was concerned the family of the girl could harm his family and did not want his name or address to be published. The sergeant said he confirmed Ms Murphy's family would not harm his family.
He described Mr Puska's state of alertness during this conversation as being fully awake. He was showing concern about himself and his family, he said, and was also upset and crying in the bed.
The sergeant said the interpreter was upset as well.
The sergeant said he asked his colleague Garda Fergus Hogan to stay in the room with Mr Puska as he had made a very serious admission.
Under cross-examination from defence counsel, Michael Bowman, Sgt Jennings said he did not recollect Mr Puska saying he felt unwell. He agreed he thought he looked fine.
Mr Puska was fully engaging with gardaí he said, answering questions and providing information.
He agreed with Mr Bowman that he was not medically qualified and had no understanding of how someone might act post operatively.
He said the nurse manager had agreed they could speak to Mr Puska but he said they did not make a direct inquiry about whether or not he was fit to be interviewed.
Sergeant Pamela Nugent said she went to the hospital on the same evening to execute a search warrant. She said she took possession of a grey Nokia phone, a shopping bag with clothes inside it, a yellow patient bag and a clear plastic wallet with Slovakian ID an a Covid Cert.
She said she wanted to notify Mr Puska about the search warrant and she had the warrant read out to him through interpreter on a phone.
Sgt Nugent said he had been taken to a private room and did not appear to be attached to any monitors. He was very calm and engaged with gardaí.
She said Mr Puska asked why gardaí were taking his possessions. She said Sgt Jennings told him they were investigating the murder in Tullamore and asked him if he knew anything about it.
He said yes and she said he paused and asked if he was a suspect. After Sgt Jennings told him he was a person of interest she said there was a longer pause.
She said Mr Puska looked at her, and at Sgt Jennings and she remembered thinking "he' thinking". Mr Puska then went on to tell Sgt Jennings he had committed the murder.
She described the interpreter sounding shocked. She said Mr Puska appeared calm and coherent, although he was starting to cry a little.
She said she left the room to contact the incident room in Tullamore as she said this was a breakthrough in the investigation. She said Inspector Brian Farrell told her Mr Puska should not be arrested at this time and not to ask any more questions.
Under cross-examination, she said Mr Puska "definitely" did not appear to be sedated but was calm.
Garda Fergus Hogan said he went into Mr Puska's room after getting a call from Sgt Jennings. He said Sgt Jennings was reminding Mr Puska he was under caution.
He was upset and crying and the sergeant was telling him he was going to contact a solicitor for him.
Garda Hogan said he remained in the room and Mr Puska started speaking to him. He said he did not ask him any questions whatsoever.
He said Mr Puska told him: "I'm sorry. I'm family, five kids. I see girl I've never seen before - I have knife, I have use for chain."
He continued: "I tell her go, I won't hurt you. When she passed, I cut her, I cut her neck, she panic. I panic."
Garda Hogan said Mr Puska put his fingers on his lips to show how he told the girl to be quiet.
He said "she panic, I panic, and then it happened" and he asked "Will I go for ten years?".
Garda Hogan told the court that at this time he himself did not know how Ms Murphy had been killed.
Just before Sgt Jennings came back into the room, Garda Hogan said Mr Puska pointed to his stomach and said "I do this".
Garda Hogan said he was upset and crying but outside of being upset he appeared to be okay.
Under cross-examination, Garda Hogan said they had sought permission from staff at the hospital any time they wanted to talk to Mr Puska.
He agreed he had not gone back to a doctor to ask permission. He said Mr Puska did not appear to be in physical discomfort and did not appear to him to be confused.
The court heard that Tullamore gardaí had been alerted about Mr Puska's presence in St James's Hospital by Blanchardstown gardaí.
The gardaí in Blanchardstown were investigating a stabbing incident there on 12 January. Mr Puska claimed he had been stabbed in Blanchardstown on the same day.
However gardaí became concerned that Mr Puska was not telling them the full story as he was not able to give details including how he got from Tullamore to Dublin, where the stabbing had taken place or the identity of who he was going to meet in Blanchardstown.
Detective Inspector Shane McCartan said there were lots of pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that could not be put together and it "just didn't add up".
He assessed it and with colleagues decided the information they had may be of material assistance in the investigation of Ms Murphy.
He made contact with a Detective Sgt David Scahill in Tullamore on the evening of 13 January 2022.
Sgt Jennings and Garda Hogan were then sent from Tullamore to St James's Hospital.
