The man accused of the murder of teacher Ashling Murphy has denied following another woman on the day Ms Murphy was killed.
Jozef Puska has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms Murphy on 12 January 2022 and has begun giving evidence in his defence.
Defence counsel Michael Bowman told Jozef Puska to explain to the jury his recollection of events on 12 January last year, "the day of the tragic murder of Ashling Murphy".
Mr Bowman said it was Mr Puska's story to tell, not his.
Speaking through an interpreter, Mr Puska said he left his home in Mucklagh at around 11.30am and travelled to Tullamore town on his bicycle.
He said he was trying to find his brother who had gone with his wife to the dentist. He said he was trying to locate his brother's car anywhere there was a big car park.
That was why he found himself in some locations twice, he said.
Mr Puska was asked if he remembered seeing a woman walking a dog. He said he now knew this woman to be Anne-Marie Kelly. She has already told the court she was followed by Mr Puska on his bicycle for quite a bit of time.
Mr Puska told the court that was not his intention at all. He said it was the truth that the CCTV showed him behind her, but he said there was no bad intention whatsoever.
He was riding the same way, he said, riding all around town and he had no intention to follow anyone at all.
Mr Puska will continue to give evidence tomorrow morning.
Earlier, the court heard details of Mr Puska's interviews with gardaí after his arrest for Ms Murphy's murder.
Detective Colin O'Leary, who carried out some of the questioning, was brought through five interviews carried out with Mr Puska on 18 and 19 January 2022.
The court heard Mr Puska told gardaí that he was originally from Slovakia but had come to Ireland in 2013. He had five young children he told the interviewing gardaí.
Mr Puska said his relationship with his kids was "beautiful", he loved them and they loved him and they understood each other.
He said he had left secondary school in Slovakia a year early to travel to Bratislava. He had worked on building sites in Ireland until he had an accident which left him with a slipped disc in his back.
Since then he said he was "on a pension" as he had a problem lifting heavy things and could not work.
He said this affected him very much as he could no longer run and do sports with his children. He said he spent his day helping in the house and bringing children to school or collecting them.
Mr Puska was asked if he knew that Ashling Murphy had been murdered six days earlier. He said he did not know.
In his second interview, he said that he did not know anything about her murder. He said he had not read anything about it and could not understand the news because of his English.
He was shown a photograph of Ms Murphy and said he did not see her at all and did not know her. He said he never saw her and the first time he had seen her was in the picture.
In further interviews, Mr Puska identified himself on his distinctive bicycle on CCTV footage.
He was shown the photograph of Ms Murphy again as well as a clip of CCTV footage of her walking along the canal. He continued to insist he did not know her.
Mr Puska said he had never seen her, he did not recognise her and he had never had contact with her.
He said he had not met her on 12 January 2022.
He said he did not remember being interviewed by gardaí in hospital where he admitted to the murder. He said he did not remember much as he was "after surgery and many tablets".
Mr Puska was asked to account for the presence of a bicycle with his DNA on it at the scene, as well as the presence of his DNA in material recovered from underneath Ms Murphy's fingernails and scratches and marks on his face and hands.
He was told that a failure or refusal to account for these matters could be used to support other evidence against him.
He said he would not give an explanation for the bicycle and he would not comment on the other matters.
He also said he did not want to comment on his presence at the location where Ms Murphy was killed. And he did not want to want to mention any facts or give any account to gardaí which he may later rely on in his defence.
The court also heard that a man emailed the garda press office five days after Ms Murphy was killed claiming that he was the person responsible.
Investigating officer, Supt Patrick O'Callaghan was recalled to give further evidence at the request of Jozef Puska's lawyers.
He was asked by Mr Bowman about an email sent to the garda Press Office on the night of 17 January 2022.
This email had the subject "Ashling Murphy", and the writer claimed he was the person responsible. He said he was in Tullamore that evening. He said he had the black tracksuit and he was sorry.
Gardaí called to an address in March 2022 and took a statement from the man in question. He said he had suffered from ADHD, took anti-depressant medication and had a difficulty with alcohol. He said he had little recollection of what he did when he drank to excess.
The court heard he could not remember sending the email. But when it was presented to him, he said he must have been drunk and apologised for doing it.
The court heard he said "what an idiot I am". He told them he should not be on the internet after drinking. He said he did not murder her and was not capable of it. He said he was very sorry and hoped it did not cause any trouble.
The superintendent agreed with Prosecuting Counsel Anne-Marie Lawlor that they investigated and found that this man had nothing to do with the events in Tullamore on 12 January and that the email was related to his precarious mental state.
Supt O'Callaghan was also asked about the other man who was arrested in relation to the murder investigation and later released.
He said he was satisfied this man was not anywhere near the Grand Canal in Tullamore from around 1.30pm on the afternoon of 12 January.
