A judge in the trial of the man accused of murdering school teacher Ashling Murphy has taken the jury through key parts of the evidence in the case.
Judge Mr Justice Tony Hunt told the nine men and three women of the jury at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin they face a “stark choice” between accepting the prosecution case against Jozef Puska or accepting his defence.
Ms Murphy, 23, was killed while exercising on a canal path in Tullamore, Co Offaly, on the afternoon of January 12 last year.
Puska, 33, of Lynally Grove in Mucklagh, Tullamore, has pleaded not guilty to her murder.
The prosecution insists the evidence against Puska is “overwhelming” and “compelling”, and claims he has “spun” a story of “foul and contemptible” lies for the sake of the jury.
The accused, who gave evidence from the witness box last week, has claimed he was “trying to help” Ms Murphy after she had allegedly been attacked by another man, who he said had also attacked and stabbed him.
Judge Hunt continued delivering his charge to the jury on Wednesday ahead of them being sent out to consider their verdict.
Focusing on legal principles involved in the case on Tuesday, on Wednesday he took the jurors through the main aspects of the evidence.
Alleged confession
These covered an alleged confession Puska gave to gardai in a Dublin hospital; DNA evidence found under Ms Murphy’s fingernails; inferences jurors are permitted to draw from Puska’s failure to answer certain questions when interviewed by gardai; lies he has admitted telling to the Garda; and evidence given by eyewitnesses on the day of the attack in Tullamore.
The judge urged jurors to decide on the facts of the case first, and then apply the law to those facts.
He said what was most important was their assessment of the evidence, not what he or the various lawyers thought.
Puska, wearing a grey jacket and white shirt, watched on from the dock while members of Ms Murphy’s family sat in the public gallery of the court.
By David Young, PA
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