The man accused of murdering Ashling Murphy has “spun” a story of “foul and contemptible” lies for the sake of the jury, the Dublin Central Criminal Court has heard.
After three weeks of evidence in the trial of Jozef Puska, the defence, and prosecuting barristers addressed the jury to give their closing statements.
Prosecuting barrister Anne-Marie Lawlor SC said that the evidence against Puska was “overwhelming” and “compelling”, and urged the jury not to be “drawn into the weeds”.
Defence barrister Michael Bowman SC told the jury that lies were not necessarily evidence of guilt, and said the details of the case were “not as straightforward as the prosecution would have you believe”.
Ms Murphy, a 23-year-old teacher, was killed while exercising on a canal path in Tullamore, Co Offaly, at about 3.30 pm on January 12th last year.
Puska, 33, of Lynally Grove in Mucklagh, Tullamore, has pleaded not guilty to her murder.
During three weeks of evidence, the jury was shown maps of the Tullamore area; CCTV footage was taken from Garda cameras, businesses, and schools in the town; forensic evidence; data from Ms Murphy’s Fitbit smartwatch and evidence from witnesses who were along the canal.
Giving evidence from the witness box last week, Puska said 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.
The court had also heard evidence from Gardai who said Puska admitted killing Ms Murphy while receiving treatment at St James’s Hospital in Dublin on January 14th.
Addressing the jury of nine men and three women, Ms. Lawlor said that usually when deciding what has happened in a case, “you’re holding light into a crevice”, but in this case heard that there was a confession by Puska.
“Mr Puska confessed that he killed Ashling Murphy, and he did that because that’s what he did. He did kill her,” she told the court.
She said that the court had heard evidence that Ms Murphy had likely defensive wounds as she tried to save herself.
Comparing it to extracting a needle from a haystack, Ms Lawlor said the DNA examined by forensic experts matched that of Jozef Puska.
“Ashling ended up being the investigator in her own murder,” she told the court.
She told the jury that Puska told: “contemptible lies that he was trying to save the life of Ashling Murphy”.
“He killed her brutally, he killed her by inflicting substantial wounds on her,” the court heard.
She said that Puska “spun” a story of “lies and mistruths, some of which I say is foul and contemptible in their nature”.
She said that this was done in the hope of preventing the jury from “arriving at what I say is the only rational conclusion in this case, that he murdered Ashling Murphy”.
Mr. Bowman said that Puska had done himself “no favours” in the actions he took in the wake of Ms. Murphy’s death, which he said did “nothing but heap suspicion on him”.
He pointed to the evidence heard in court that Puska had suggested his clothes from that day be destroyed.
“Why would a man who had 22 months to make up a story, as the prosecution say, why would he say that if it is not truthful” and also indicative of guilt, Mr Bowman asked.
He said if Puska had “spun a tapestry of lies, why would he say that? But he does heap suspicion on himself.”
Mr Bowman added: “Can you really push Mr Puska’s version aside that easily?”
Puska appeared in court wearing a grey jacket and open-neck shirt, seated alongside a translator.
The family of Ashling Murphy was also seated in court, as they had been during the course of the trial.
By Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA
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