Jozef Puska's sister-in-law told gardaí she had failed to say that she burned the clothes Puska was wearing on the day he murdered Ashling Murphy because she was "afraid the whole family would go against me" or that she would end up on the street.
Forty-year-old Viera Gaziova told gardaí she burned the clothes after her husband, Lubomir Puska, told her that Jozef Puska had asked him to "make sure that those clothes are burnt".
She said she built a fire in the living room and put the clothes on top.
After the flames had died down, she cleaned out the fireplace and poured the ashes down the kitchen sink.
All that remained by then was "pure ash", she said, with "nothing that resembled clothes".
Ms Gaziova is charged with impeding the apprehension or prosecution of Jozef Puska by burning his clothes.
Thirty-two-year-old Jozefina Grundzova, who is married to Jozef Puska's other brother Marek Puska, is charged with the same offence.
Lubomir Puska and Marek Puska are charged with withholding information from detectives investigating Ms Murphy's murder.
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.
Detective Garda Andrew Dolan told prosecution senior counsel Anne Marie Lawlor that Ms Gaziova met gardaí to give a voluntary statement on 17 January 2022, five days after Ms Murphy's murder.
She described Jozef Puska as a "very good person".
She said he spoke to everyone, played with the children and "never said anything bad for anyone".
His children "never went short for anything," she added.
She said Jozef Puska went out early on the day of Ashling Murphy's murder, and the rest of the household became concerned when he did not come back that afternoon.
Marek Puska and Lubomir Puska searched for him but could not find him.
Sometime after 9pm, Jozef Puska arrived home "fully soaked from top to bottom" and "shaking uncontrollably".
He was wearing a Tommy Hilfiger top with black tracksuit bottoms and black runners, she said, and told his wife Lucia that he was going for a shower.
After his shower, Jozef Puska left the clothes he had been wearing "rolled up in a bundle" inside a bag on the bathroom floor.
She said Lubomir Puska and Marek Puska spoke to Jozef Puska in his bedroom and afterwards, Lubomir Puska told her that Jozef Puska had "confessed that he killed a girl".
She said: "I said, this is not like Jozef. I did not believe Jozef could do such a thing."
When Lucia came into the room, she said they stopped talking about it.
She said that the people who knew what Jozef Puska had done were herself, Lubomir Puska, Marek Puska and Jozefina Grundzova.
She did not know if Lucia knew at that point, she said.
She said they spoke about what Jozef Puska had said, adding: "We were all puzzled, then we quickly became afraid."
Jozef Puska's parents arrived a short time later, and his mother wanted to know what had happened to him and who had beaten him up.
Ms Gaziova said Jozef Puska's mother insisted that he return with his parents to Dublin.
When Jozef Puska and his parents had left, she said Lubomir Puska poured a shot of vodka for everyone.
"We started talking that Jozef couldn't do it, we didn't believe it," she said.
She said they continued talking and drinking until Lucia came into the room.
Ms Gaziova said Marek Puska told Lucia that Jozef Puska had been stabbed, but Lucia was "puzzled" and did not believe it.
She said she would have seen the stab wounds.
The following day, Ms Gaziova said, Lubomir Puska had gone to Dublin and that night, after 10pm, he called her using Facebook Messenger to say that Jozef Puska had asked him to "make sure that those clothes are burnt".
She said she waited until the following morning after the children had gone to school.
She lit the fire using paper and briquettes and let it burn for about one hour, until it was "very strong".
She took the clothes out of the bag, starting with the tracksuit top and t-shirt, which were stuck together as though Jozef Puska had taken them off in one go.
When gardaí asked why she had "misled the investigation" by failing to mention that she destroyed evidence in her previous statement, she said: "We were afraid of the guards when they came.
"Nothing like this ever happened before. I was afraid I would end up on the street with my children.
"I was shaking. I didn't want to say because I was afraid the whole family would go against me."
The trial continues before Ms Justice Caroline Biggs and a jury of seven men and five women.
