{"id":138323,"date":"2025-10-22T13:11:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T13:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/138323\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T13:11:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T13:11:09","slug":"five-members-of-puska-family-jailed-over-actions-in-wake-of-ashling-murphy-murder-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/138323\/","title":{"rendered":"Five members of Puska family jailed over actions in wake of Ashling Murphy murder \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five people \u2013 the partner of Jozef Puska, two of his brothers and their wives \u2013 have been sentenced from between 20 months to 2\u00bd years over their actions in the immediate aftermath of his murder of schoolteacher Ashling Murphy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Both brothers were jailed for 2\u00bd years while Puska\u2019s partner was jailed for 26 months and his brothers\u2019 wives were jailed for 30 months and 27 months. <\/p>\n

The sentences of the three women were each suspended for six months each after Ms Justice Caroline Biggs said she accepted their Roma culture meant the women \u201cdid what they were told\u201d.<\/p>\n

The outcome means the 14 children of the five will not have parents to care for them. Tusla, the State\u2019s child and family agency, is satisfied that appropriate arrangements are in place for the care of the children, Ms Justice Caroline Biggs noted. <\/p>\n

Jozef Puska is serving a life sentence for the murder of Ms Murphy (23) while she was out walking on the Grand Canal near her home in Tullamore on January 12th, 2022.<\/p>\n

Her parents Raymond and Kathleen, sister Amy, brother Cathal and boyfriend Ryan Casey were in the packed courtroom in the Central Criminal Court on Wednesday when Puska\u2019s partner, two brothers and their wives, all living with the 14 children, at the same address in Mucklagh, Tullamore, were sentenced.<\/p>\n

Puska\u2019s two brothers Lubomir Puska jnr (38) and Marek Puska (36), were each jailed for 30 months and their wives Viera Gaziova (40) and Jozefina Grundzova (32), were jailed for 30 months and 27 months respectively.<\/p>\n

\"LubomirLubomir Puska (35) was jailed for 30 months and Viera Gaziona (38) was sentenced to 30 months with six suspended. Photograph: Collins Courts <\/p>\n

All four were convicted last June after a Central Criminal Court jury accepted the prosecution\u2019s case both brothers misled garda\u00ed investigating the murder by failing to disclose crucial and vital information when they gave witness statements, while their wives burned Jozef Puska\u2019s clothes to impede his arrest or prosecution.<\/p>\n

Puska\u2019s partner, Lucia Istokova (36), a mother of five who before the trial opened pleaded guilty to withholding information from investigating garda\u00ed, including that Jozef Puska had admitted to killing a girl, was sentenced to 26 months.<\/p>\n

All five, having initially withheld information, had later made certain disclosures to garda\u00ed. Some of those concerned Jozef Puska\u2019s movements and admissions on the night of January 12th, 2022. <\/p>\n

\"JozefJozef Puska’s partner Lucia Istokova was sentenced to 26 months with six suspended. Photograph: Collins Courts <\/p>\n

The maximum sentence for withholding information, the charges applicable to Puska\u2019s partner and brothers, was five years. The maximum sentence for assisting an offender, the charges concerning the burning of Jozef Puska\u2019s clothes, was ten years.<\/p>\n

Ms Justice Caroline Biggs in imposing sentence, said the sentencing process \u201cis not an act of vengeance\u201d. It was to provide a constitutionally appropriate sentence taking into account culpability and mitigating factors, she said.<\/p>\n

She agreed these offences involved a closure of ranks by the family and a decision to say nothing, to lie, which was all to assist Jozef Puska in evading arrest.<\/p>\n

The offences were not at the most serious end of the scale for reasons including that Jozef Puska was apprehended, prosecuted and convicted, she said.<\/p>\n

She also took into account none of the five had previous convictions, are at low or moderate risk of reoffending, all have children who they would be separated from while in custody and they were isolated from the wider community when they lived in Mucklagh. She also took into account probation reports which suggested some elements of a lack of accountability. However, the jury verdict at the trial of the four was accepted, she said.<\/p>\n

She set a headline sentence of 40 months and said she would reduce the sentence by one quarter for four of them, and by 30 per cent for the guilty plea by Puska\u2019s partner.<\/p>\n

The judge heard prosecution and defence submissions earlier this month, and received probation and psychological reports on the defendants before adjourning the matter to Wednesday to hear victim impact statements before imposing sentence. <\/p>\n

In his victim impact statement, Raymond Murphy said his family was serving a life sentence since the murder of their beautiful and thoughtful daughter. She is his first thought in the morning and his last thought at night, he said.<\/p>\n

A pink plastic fiddle which Ashling was given as a child remains in her bedroom \u201cfrozen in time\u201d, he said. She had planned to pass it on to her own children but that will never happen.<\/p>\n

No matter what suffering Jozef Puska and his family endure, \u201cit will never compare to our inescapable nightmare\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"AshlingAshling Murphy (23) was murdered while out walking on the Grand Canal near her home in Tullamore on January 12th, 2022 <\/p>\n

Ireland was \u201ca better place\u201d while Ashling was here but what, he asked the defendants, \u201cis your legacy\u201d? Their lives were \u201cbuilt on a strong foundation of taking, never giving\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

He said the five defendants knew that \u201cone of their own\u201d had murdered his daughter and did all possible to conceal what they knew. He said the damage can never be undone and he hoped they would get \u201cthe lengthy custodial sentences you deserve\u201d.<\/p>\n

Amy Murphy, who broke down while reading her statement, said the legal process had taken so much out of her she could not share any more of her private memories of her beloved sister and was rereading the victim impact statement she had given at Jozef Puska\u2019s trial.<\/p>\n

Her family has suffered an \u201cimmeasurable loss\u201d and the defendants had demonstrated a \u201cprofound disregard\u201d for Ashling\u2019s life. While her family understand that the defendants have children, being a parent \u201cshould not be a shield from accountability\u201d. <\/p>\n

Her family did not accept any expressions of sympathy from the defendants. \u201cTheir words carry no sincerity\u201d, she said. <\/p>\n

Marek Puska was convicted last July for failing, on January 14th and 15th 2022, to disclose to garda\u00ed, as soon as practicable, that Jozef Puska returned to their home with visible injuries and admitted to killing or seriously injuring a female with a knife, information of material assistance in securing his apprehension for a serious offence. <\/p>\n

He was also convicted of being aware of an arrangement to burn clothing worn by Jozef Puska at the time of the murder and that Jozef Puska travelled to Dublin on night of January 12th, 2022. <\/p>\n

\"JozefJozef Puska is serving a life sentence for the murder of Ashling Murphy (23). <\/p>\n

Lubomir Puska was convicted over failing to disclose on January 14th 2022 that Jozef Puska returned to their home on the night of January 12th with visible injuries, admitted to cutting a female with a knife, and travelled to Dublin later that night, information which might be of material assistance in securing his brother\u2019s prosecution for a serious offence. <\/p>\n

Viera Gaziova and Jozefina Grundzova were convicted on a charge of assisting an offender in that, between January 12th 2022 and January 14th 2022, knowing or believing Jozef Puska to have committed an offence of murder, or other serious offence, they assisted in the burning of items of his clothing. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five people \u2013 the partner of Jozef Puska, two of his brothers and their wives \u2013 have been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-138323","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-latest-news","17":"tag-latestnews","18":"tag-main-news","19":"tag-mainnews","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-top-stories","22":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}