Man accused of killing Ashling Murphy told garda ‘I am the murderer’, trial hears

A man on trial for the murder of Ashling Murphy told a garda two days after she was killed he had seen a girl he had never seen before and “cut her neck”, a jury has been told.

Det Garda Fergus Hogan said Jozef Puska volunteered information to him in English while Mr Puska was in St James’ Hospital on the evening of January 14th, 2022.

He said he had been asked to remain with Mr Puska in a room after two other gardaí left there.

Those gardai, Det Sgt Brian Jennings and Sgt Pamela Nugent, told the jury earlier on Wednesday that Mr Puska had, via an interpreter, made admissions to murder when they were present in the room.

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Sgt Jennings and Sgt Nugent said Mr Puska made those admissions after he was told on the evening of January 14th that gardaí investigating the murder of Ms Murphy in Tullamore had a warrant to seize some of his property, including a mobile phone.

Wednesday was the seventh day of the trial of Mr Puska (33), of Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, Co Offaly.

A native of Slovakia living here 12 years, Mr Puska has, through an interpreter, pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms Murphy (23), at Cappincur, Tullamore, on January 12th, 2022.

The jury has heard Ms Murphy died as a result of 11 stab wounds to her neck.

It has also heard Mr Puska was admitted to St James Hospital in Dublin on the afternoon of January 13th, having alleged he was stabbed in the stomach in an incident in Blanchardstown on the night of January 12th, 2022, and remained in the hospital on January 14th after having surgery.

In direct evidence on Wednesday, Garda Hogan, attached to Birr garda station, said, after his two colleagues left him in the room with Mr Puska on the evening of January 14th, Mr Puska had said to him: “I’m sorry, I am family, five kids, I see girl I never see before, I have knife I have use for chain.”

Garda Hogan said he told Mr Puska he did not have to say anything but Mr Puska went on to say: “Chain on bike”. Garda Hogan said he told Mr Puska they, the gardaí, were going to contact a solicitor for him and Mr Puska said: “I tell her go, I won’t hurt you, when she pass I cut her neck, she panic, I panic.”

Mr Puska, the witness said, put his fingers on his lips, “as if he told the injured party to be quiet” and said: “She panic, I panic and then it happened. Will I go for 10 years?”

Garda Hogan said he told him he could not answer that. Mr Puska asked him was he, the witness, “here today already” and he replied he was.

The witness said Mr Puska also pointed to his stomach, which had wounds, and said: “I do this.”

In cross-examination by Michael Bowman, SC, Garda Hogan said Mr Puska was upset and crying but did not say he was in physical discomfort and appeared in better shape than he had earlier that afternoon.

One of the reasons gardaí finished speaking with him earlier was because Mr Puska was in discomfort, he agreed. He agreed gardaí would probably have liked to ask him more questions if the opportunity presented itself.

His notes of his conversation with Mr Puska were “100 per cent accurate”, Garda Hogan said.

In re-examination by Anne Marie Lawlor SC, for the DPP, Garda Hogan said he was not aware, when Mr Puska was speaking to him, how Ashling Murphy had died.

In his evidence, Sgt Jennings, also attached to Birr station, said Mr Puska was upset and crying in St James’ Hospital on the evening of January 14th when, through an interpreter, he said, in the presence of the witness and Sgt Nugent: “I did it, I murdered. I am the murderer”.

He had cautioned Mr Puska and offered him a solicitor, he said.

He said Mr Puska had also said, through the interpreter, the reason he was pleading guilty is because he did not want anything bad to happen to his family and he had said: “I feel guilty, I regret it.”

Sgt Jennings said he took a note of what Mr Puska said and Mr Puska signed that.

Under cross-examination by Michael Bowman, SC, Sgt Jennings said he was aware, from media news reports on January 13th, 2022, a man arrested by gardaí investigating the killing of Ms Murphy had been released.

When he met Mr Puska on the evening of January 14th, he regarded him as “a person of interest”, he said. He disagreed he was “interviewing” Mr Puska and said it would be “very unfair” to describe it as an “interrogation”.

He agreed his note of admissions made by Mr Puska was not read over to Mr Puska and did not include all he said. The conversation lasted some 20 minutes and the admissions part perhaps five minutes, he said.

Mr Puska gave no cause for concern in terms of his presentation throughout and it never occurred to him to record the exchanges with Mr Puska on his phone, he said.

Detective Inspector Shane McCartan, attached to Blanchardstown garda station, said a stabbing incident happened at Millennium Park, Blanchardstown, on January 12th, 2022.

Gardaí established quite quickly there were two victims but on the 13th the situation changed with the effect there might possibly be a third victim, he said.

He directed two gardaí to go to St James’s Hospital to speak with a man there and, after they briefed him about their conversation with Jozef Puska, it was apparent there was “a dearth of cogent information”, he said.

He was aware of Mr Puska’s nationality and he was residing in Tullamore, he said. The two gardaí had discussed Mr Puska’s injuries and the lack of detail from him about how he got from Tullamore to Dublin and on to Blanchardstown on January 12th, he said.

“There were a lot of pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that just couldn’t be put together, that just did not add up.”

Having discussed it with other officers, they concluded the information might be of some benefit to the investigation into the killing of Ashling Murphy, he said. He contacted a detective in Tullamore and conveyed the information, which included “scrapes” on Mr Puska’s hands and head, to him.

“It was quite apparent it was not a knife that caused those, it was sharp foliage, sharp bush or thorns, he said. He said he knew very little about the investigation into Ms Murphy’s death but it and the Blanchardstown stabbing incident had been widely reported in the media.

“The story that I had been given just didn’t add up,” he said.

The trial continues on Thursday.