Josef Puska's brothers convicted of offences to obstruct his arrest for Ashling Murphy's murder

Lubomir Puska (left) and Viera Gaziona (right) arriving at the Central Criminal Court on Tuesday before they were convicted. Picture: Collins Courts

A jury has convicted Jozef Puska’s two brothers of withholding crucial information from gardaí investigating the murder of school teacher Ashling Murphy, while the two men's wives have also been found guilty of burning the killer’s bloodstained clothes in an effort to obstruct his prosecution.

There were 12 days of pre-trial hearings prior to a jury being sworn to hear the trial, during which each of the accused had the benefit of a senior and junior counsel. During the course of the trial, which began on May 19, a further three days were taken up with legal arguments and rulings.

All the defendants had pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. Lubomir Puska Jnr, aged 38, however, had admitted to gardaí that he lied about not having seen his brother Jozef past 11:30 on the day of the murder, while his wife Viera Gaziova, aged 40, and sister-in-law Jozefina Grundzova, aged 32, told gardaí that they had burned clothes.

Jozef Puska, aged 35, murdered Ms Murphy, 23, on January 12, 2022, by repeatedly stabbing her in the neck after attacking her while she exercised along the canal towpath outside Tullamore, Co Offaly. He was later convicted of murder and is serving a life sentence.

The Central Criminal Court jury on Tuesday accepted the prosecution's case that Jozef Puska’s brothers, Lubomir Jnr and Marek Puska, aged 36, misled gardaí by failing to disclose crucial and vital information when they gave witness statements, while their wives - Viera Gaziova and Jozefina Grundzova - burned Jozef's clothes to impede his arrest or prosecution.

The 12 jurors unanimously found Josef Puska's brothers guilty, while his sisters-in-law were found guilty by majority verdicts.

Gaziova was convicted by a majority verdict of 11-1, whilst Grundzova was found guilty by a majority verdict of 10-2.

Marek Puska (left) and partner Jozefina Grundzova (right ) arriving at the Central Criminal Court before they were convicted on Tuesday. Picture: Collins Courts

All four family members were living with Jozef Puska, his wife Lucia, and 14 children at Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, Co Offaly when the offences occurred in January 2022.

It was the State’s case that the two brothers misled gardaí and withheld “crucial, relevant and significant” information when they gave voluntary interviews in Tullamore two days after Ms Murphy’s death.

This included information that Jozef returned home on the night of the murder with visible injuries, admitted to killing or seriously injuring a woman with a knife and subsequently travelled to Dublin.

The jurors gave their verdict in relation to the two brothers after deliberating for 13 hours and 40 minutes over five days, before returning again to the courtroom 16 minutes later to reveal their decisions on the charges against the wives of the two brothers.

Following the four verdicts, presiding judge Ms Justice Caroline Biggs thanked the panel of seven men and five women "most sincerely" for their service including their time, energy, dedication and patience.

Addressing the jurors, the judge said that from an early stage in the case it was "very clear to all of us" that they had a grasp of the real issues from the questions they had asked. "You could not have given us and the court process more," she added.

Excusing the panel from jury service for life, Ms Justice Biggs said: "You have given the State more than enough service in light of what you had to deal with in the last four weeks".

Following the verdicts, Sean Gillane, prosecuting, told the court that there was "another issue" in that Jozef Puska's wife, Lucia Istokova, had pleaded guilty before the commencement of the trial on May 19.

Istokova, aged 36, the mother of Jozef's children, had admitted to withholding information from gardaí investigating the murder after the pre-trial hearing.

Mr Gillane told the judge that the four defendants could be listed "for mention only" along with Istokova on July 7 and said the court could be updated on reports then.

Ms Justice Biggs agreed to the application and went on to order probation reports for each of the defendants, who were remanded on continuing bail until that date.

The judge informed the jurors that the next stage was "the sentence process", which she would deal with.

The jury originally began their deliberations last Wednesday, but an amendment was made to the indictment the following day to read that they knew he had committed "the murder of Ashling Murphy" or some other arrestable offence.