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Marek Puska and Lubomir Puska Jr

Five members of the family of Jozef Puska have been jailed for offences connected with the murder of Ashling Murphy in the Republic of Ireland.

Ms Murphy was stabbed to death by Josef Puska while walking along the banks of a canal close to her home in Tullamore, County Offaly, in 2022.

Puska’s wife Lucia Istokova and brothers, Marek and Lubomir Puska Jr, were convicted of withholding information from gardaí (Irish police).

Istokova has been jailed for 20 months and the brothers have been sentenced to two-and-a-half years each. The maximum sentence for this offence is five years.

Jozef Puska’s sisters-in-law, Viera Gaziova and Jozefina Grundzova, were found guilty of assisting an offender by burning his clothes following Ms Murphy’s murder in January 2022.

Gaziova has been jailed for two years, while Grundzova has been jailed for a year and nine months.

This offence carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.

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Jozefina Grundzova and Viera Gaziova

Victim impact

In victim impact evidence, Ms Murphy’s father, Raymond, said the small comfort the family had that Puska was rotting in prison, isolated and alone would have been robbed from them, if the five members of his family had succeeded in hiding his guilt by withholding and destroying vital evidence.

Ms Murphy’s sister, Amy, said her murder had ripped the family’s lives of joy, colour and meaning.

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Jozef Puska’s wife Lucia Istokov

Amy Murphy said her family felt gaslit when lawyers for the defendants recounted the family values of their clients.

She said the court was told the family had come to Ireland seeking a better life, believing in the importance of family and education. However, she said their actions completely contradicted this.

The judge said she agreed that what happened was a closure of ranks and a decision was made to lie and say nothing to assist Puska in avoiding arrest.

She said the jury had found they did this knowing well that Puska had confessed to the killing of Ms Murphy.

The judge told the Murphy family she was acutely aware how powerless the criminal justice system was to do anything to ease their unspeakable and exceptional pain and suffering.