“They would be ranked at the very upper end in terms of risk of attack from the other prisoners,” a source told the Sunday World.
Puska’s brothers Marek (36) and Lubomir (37) were initially housed on protection on the C-Base of Mountjoy Prison after they were jailed for two and a half years on Wednesday for withholding evidence in connection with the Offaly school teacher’s murder.
Lubomir Puska and Viera Gaziova arriving to court previously
The Puska brothers were subsequently moved onto the prison’s A wing where Marek was attacked on a landing by five inmates on Friday night.
Marek Puska and his partner Jozefina Grundzova outside court
News in 90 Seconds – Saturday, October 25
“Big men on the outside … they never realise just how insignificant they are in the pecking order until they come in here,” a source told the Sunday World.
Following the attack, Marek Puska received medical treatment and has been since moved back into protection.
“They would be ranked at the very upper end in terms of risk of attack from the other prisoners,” a source told the Sunday World.
The pair will serve 30 months in prison for withholding information from gardai in an effort to conceal brother Jozef’s guilt in the murder of Ashling.
Ashling Murphy
Both men failed to disclose key details including that the killer had returned home on the evening of the murder with visible injuries, that he admitted to cutting a female, and that he had travelled to Dublin later that night.
Marek Puska also withheld a further piece of crucial information from gardaí relating to the arrangements to burn the killers clothing he wore during the murder.
Jozef Puska’s sisters-in-law, Czech nationals Jozefina Grundzova (35) and Viera Gaziova (40), were found guilty of aiding an offender having burnt clothes that were worn by the murderer at the time of the offence.
The court heard that the women did this in the knowledge of belief that they were trying to stop Puska from being apprehended for the murder of Ashling.
Jozef Puska
Gaziova, a mother-of-three married to Lubomir Puska, was given a 30-month sentence with he final six months suspended.
Grundzova, a mother-of-six married to Marek Puska, was handed down a 27-month jail term, with the final six months suspended.
The defendants were all residing at a four-bedroom home with six adults and 14 children at Lynally Grove in Mucklagh, Co Offaly, at the time of the offences.
Ashling Murphy’s father, Ray, said in his victim impact statement this week that the loss of his daughter can never be measured- not physically, not emotionally, not financially. In his statement, read out in court by Garda Alan Burke, he said: “She could never be replaced”.
Mr Murphy said that the Puska family all “closed ranks to protect the animal they call their husband and brother” but that he “now rots in prison for his crime”.
He also told the court that his daughter represented the very best of Ireland, while Puska’s family did everything possible to ensure that a monster was “free to roam the streets of Ireland”.
Ashling (23) was murdered while jogging along the grand canal in Tullamore, Co Offaly, on January 12, 2022.
The schoolteacher died after suffering 11 stab wounds to the neck with Slovakian national Jozef Puska convicted of her murder in 2023 and sentenced to life imprisonment.
The killer’s wife, Lucia Istokova (36), was the only accused who pleaded guilty having admitted to withholding information which she knew could be of material assistance in prosecuting her husband for a serious offence.