The jury selection for the murder trial of Ashling Murphy commenced today at the Central Criminal Court, Dublin, and Jozef Puška (33), a Slovak national with an address of Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, Co. Offaly, has pleaded not guilty to her murder.
If convicted, Mr Puška will serve a mandatory life sentence. He is represented by Michael Bowman SC.
Pre-trial completed this morning, 16 October, which had commenced two weeks ago, without a jury. Today, the jury was empanelled by Mr Justice Tony Hunt. It is expected the trial will last for four weeks, up to a maximum of five weeks.
In addressing the panel for the jury selection, Mr Justice Hunt acknowledged that there had been a “high level of publicity” in this case and that a “fair, unbiased and open minded jury” was paramount to the case.
The judge stressed that he should be notified if any prospective jurors “engaged in commentary in social media” in relation to this case. “The integrity of the system depends on the integrity of the jurors”, he added.
He acknowledged that “it would not be human” to have had no knowledge of this case but to approach the case “with an open mind”. He added that if they had commented on social media at any point to make him aware of this before being sworn in.
A jury of three women and nine men were selected for the trial which will last up to five weeks.
The judge addressed the jury to point he made prior to their selection stating the “situation is particularly acute if you have commented on social media”. He told the jury member to “divorce yourself from anything said outside this room” and added there was “no need for you to pay attention to social media or mainstream media reporting”.
The primary school teacher, aged 23 at the time of her death, was killed in Tullamore, Co. Offaly on 12 January 2022. She was fatally attacked while jogging by the Grand Canal, just outside Tullamore at Cappincur.
Present in court was Mr Puška, accompanied by a translator. He pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder of Ms Murphy.
Ms Murphy was a graduate of Mary Immaculate College, Limerick and was employed at Durrow National School. She was also a well-known and popular traditional Irish musician.
The trial will resume at 10:30am on Tuesday, 17 October at the Central Criminal Court.
In June, three women and two men appeared before Tullamore District Court in connection with the investigation into the alleged murder of Ms Murphy.
Marek Puska (34), Lubomir Puska (35) and Lucia Istokova (34) are accused of failing to disclose information to gardaí on a date unknown between two dates last year.
Jozefina Grundzova (33) and Viera Gaziova (38) are both accused of impeding the apprehension or prosecution of a person.