The jury in the trial of Jozef Puska's brothers and sisters in law over their actions following the murder of teacher, Ashling Murphy, in 2022, has begun its deliberations.
Jozef Puska’s brothers, 36-year-old Marek and 38-year-old Lubomir Junior have pleaded not guilty to withholding vital information from gardaí.
Their wives, 32-year-old Jozefina Grundzova and 40-year-old Viera Gaziova, deny burning Jozef Puska’s clothes to impede his arrest or prosecution.
Ashling Murphy was stabbed to death by Jozef Puska on 12 January 2022, in a random attack while she was out walking along the Grand Canal near her home in Tullamore, Co Offaly.
In her closing speech, prosecuting counsel, Anne Marie Lawlor said Marek Puska and Lubomir Puska Junior knew what their brother had done. There was an onus on them to provide the vital information they had about the murder to gardaí, she said.
She said that when Ms Gaziova and Ms Grundzova burned Jozef’s clothes, they knew why they were doing it and acted without any reasonable excuse.
Marek Puska’s defence counsel, Karl Finnegan told the jury that his client was entitled to remain silent to avoid incriminating himself. He said this was a legitimate legal defence, even if the jury didn’t like it.
Defence counsel for Lubomir Puska Junior, Kathleen Leader, said her client delayed giving information but did not withhold it.
She said he had a reasonable excuse and asked the jury to consider his natural sense of protection for his younger brother and his reluctance to accept his brother had committed a truly horrific murder.
Lawyers for Ms Grundzova and Ms Gaziova told the jury that the women could not have known and did not believe that he murdered Ashling Murphy when they burned the clothes he had been wearing on the night .
Senior Counsel for Ms Grundzova, Paul Murray said at the time she burned the clothes, she did not have any of the evidence that would later prove Jozef Puska’s guilt. He said at the time gardaí didn’t know either as they had arrested and were questioning the wrong man.
Ms Gaziova’s defence counsel, Damien Colgan said her view at the time was that Jozef Puska had been the victim of an assault and wasn’t capable of killing anyone.
Ms Justice Caroline Biggs summarised the evidence for the jury and then sent the seven men and five women out to begin their deliberations, telling them unanimous verdicts were required at this juncture.
She said they had a large volume of documentation and urged them to read through it in their own good time.
Ms Justice Biggs said there was no set timeframe for them to reach their decision - she said different juries take different amounts of time and it could take a number of hours or a number of days to reach their verdicts.
She urged them to take whatever time they deemed appropriate.
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