New date set for Jozef Puska’s appeal

Alison O'Riordan

An appeal brought by Jozef Puska against his conviction for the murder of schoolteacher Ashling Murphy, which was delayed after he changed his barristers less than a week before the hearing was due to begin, will now go ahead in July.

Puska is serving a life sentence for the murder of Murphy (23), whom he attacked and stabbed repeatedly in the neck as she exercised along the canal towpath outside Tullamore, Co Offaly on January 12th, 2022.

At the Court of Appeal on Friday, Judge Isobel Kennedy fixed July 15th as the new date for the conviction appeal.

Puska’s appeal had been due to begin on Thursday. However, on April 17th, Karl Monahan with Michael Bowman, representing Puska, told Judge Kennedy that owing to instructions given by their client to his solicitor, it had become necessary to “make an application seeking to withdraw from the case”.

He told the court that all barristers involved required to be released but Puska’s solicitor remained instructed and had engaged an alternative senior counsel.

Judge Kennedy vacated the hearing date and listed the matter for case management on Friday, saying she intended to give it “the earliest hearing date possible”.

John Berry today confirmed he has come on record to represent Puska. He said he had met with his client, received all the papers in the case and is currently reviewing them.

Berry acknowledged that the court was anxious to fix a hearing date and said he was “not trying to stand in the way” of that, but requested a case management mention in three weeks’ time.

Judge Kennedy said she would fix a hearing date and would also list the matter for case management.

She said she would give the appeal hearing the earliest possible date available, as the previous date had been “vacated at short notice”.

The judge set July 15th for Puska’s conviction appeal, noting the possibility it may run into a second day.

She listed the matter for case management on May 15th, telling Berry: “Your ducks should be in a row by that date”.

Puska, who told detectives that he stopped working in 2017 after slipping a disk in his back, has been granted legal aid for his appeal on the same basis as his representation during his trial at the Central Criminal Court, where he was allocated a solicitor, a senior counsel and two junior counsel.

The 35-year-old, with a last address at Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, Co Offaly, had pleaded not guilty to murdering Murphy at Cappincur, Tullamore, on January 12th, 2022.

The jury found that Puska stabbed Murphy 11 times in the neck and slashed her once with the edge of a blade before leaving her to die in the thick thorns and brambles by the side of the canal towpath between Tullamore town and Digby Bridge.

A monument now stands where she died.

Puska was placed at the scene by the presence of his distinctive green and black bicycle a few feet from Murphy's body.

He had been captured on CCTV cycling the same bicycle around Tullamore earlier that afternoon, stalking two women before heading towards the canal.

Puska's DNA was found on the bike as was his fingerprint, while his DNA was also under Murphy's fingernails. The prosecution argued that the DNA under her nails showed that Ashling had scratched her attacker as she fought to save her own life.

When gardaí spoke to Puska the day after the murder, his face and hands were covered in scratches that were consistent with him crawling through the thorns and briars by the side of the towpath where he murdered Murphy.