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.

Ms 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 2022.

Two 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 prosecution.

The 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 murder.

This 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 in.

Lucia 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 place.

During 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 families.

Prosecution 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 themselves.

All five were remanded on continuing bail and the case will be mentioned on 7 July when a sentence date will be fixed.

Ms Murphy’s mother and father, Kathleen and Ray, her sister Amy and brother Cathal were in court on Tuesday to hear the verdicts.