The trial of four associates of murderer, Jozef Puska, continues before the Central Criminal Court where a jury of five women and seven men are empanelled.
At today’s hearing of the case, where four relatives of Ashling Murphy’s killer are charged in relation the allegations of assisting the murder heard Garda evidence of interviews with his older brother, Lubomir ‘Lubo’ Puska.
In an interview conducted on the 14th of January 2022 where Detective Garda Joanne O’ Sullivan was leading, Lubomir told Gardaí that he had a dental appointment on the day Ms. Murphy was murdered. He said that the last time he saw his brother that day was before he left for the dentist at 11:30 am.
He said he didn’t know the name of his dentist, but that he was Pakistani, and that the clinic was not far from Tullamore Garda station where the interview took place.
Asked how Jozef seemed that morning he said – through a Slovakian interpreter who was present in the interview room – “Not in a good mood” and that his mood was “hard to describe”.
When he was asked if Jozef had argued with anyone he said that he seemed like a person who had “some kind of problem he doesn’t want to share with anyone”.
When asked about an earlier statement he had made that Jozef left the house on his bike that morning he said that his wife had told him that detail as he was not in the house when his brother left.
Asked if he remembered what Jozef was wearing that day he said that he usually wore “tracksuits” or “jeans”.
When Gardaí asked Lubomir, “Did Jozef come back to the house on Wednesday [12 Jan 2022]?”, he responded “Can’t tell you, because I haven’t seen him,”
He said that he and his brother, Marek, had gone to Tullamore Garda station that day but could not gain access and instead decided to have their cousin, Mariana, phone the police as her English ability is better than theirs.
Asked if Mariana came to the Puska home, Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, while Jozef was missing, he said “I don’t know” and it’s “possible” as she came over often. “If I’m not sure about something I cannot tell you”, he said.
When asked if Jozef’s wife, Lucia Istakova, was “worried when he went missing” he said it “never happened before” and that she was “annoyed” because he had promised to go shopping with her that day.
Lubomir was then asked where Lucia was now, to which he answered “Dublin” because she wanted to visit her husband in hospital but was not allowed in.
Asked how he found out that his brother was in hospital, he said his father had phoned him, and that he had “no idea” how Jozef sustained injuries to his abdomen.
Of Jozef he said, he’s “the type of person that doesn’t want to share anything with others” that he was “ always this way” and it was “part of his character”.
“If there is something wrong with him he won’t tell anyone.”
Asked “Is there anything wrong?” he replied, “No” and that it was “just part of his character” and “everyone that knows him knows he’s a good man”.
“We were shocked when we get to know that something happened on his belly,”
“My father and my mother they are so upset, they could not eat or sleep well”.
Asked if the injuries were caused by Jozef or someone else he said, “hard to know, hard to understand” and he was “in shock”.
To the question, “Does he ever carry weapons” such as a knife, he said, “No”.
When Lubomir was asked how Jozef got to Dublin at a time that would have been after the murder, he said,“I don’t know how”.
To the question, “When you got to Dublin where did you go?” he responded that he went to his cousin’s home because the other family members had not been able to get into the hospital to see Jozef.
Subsequent voluntary interview on the 16th of January 2022.
The court heard that on the 16th Jan 2022 Lubomir Puska requested to speak to the Garda members he had previously dealt with during his interview on the 14th of January.
This interview was conducted on a voluntary basis with the aid of an interpreter.
Lubomir said, “Last time I told you I don’t want to lie to you,” and explained how he had said that he only saw Jozef in the morning on the day in question.
“I said I didn’t see him after [that], and “I’m very sorry I lied”.
“When I came my brother was home looked like he was beaten up”, he said.
He said when the brother’s parents arrived at the house in Mucklagh, “He wants them to bring him away from here to Dublin”.
Gardaí asked, “Did you speak to Jozef when he got back to the house?” and “You said you came home from the dentist around 2pm, was Jozef there then?” he replied, “No”.
Asked if he left the house between coming back from the dentist and his brother’s return he said he had gone to look for him twice with Marek Puska, and that one of the places he looked was the Pot of Gold casino.
When Gardaí asked why they were worried about Jozef they said that he “never did this before” and that he had left the house without a number of essential personal items such as his identity card.
When he and Marek arrived home after 9pm, he said that Jozef was in the shower and that when he came out he he was “lying down” in his room and said, “Nothing happened to me don’t worry about it.”
He was complaining of pain in his stomach and holding his stomach, he said,
Lubomir said he pulled the cover off him and when he saw his abdomen said, “What is this? They must have beat you up in an awful way.”
He said that his mother and father, cousin Marian, and another relative called Eric came to the house in a car before taking Jozef up to Dublin.
Asked where the clothes Jozef had been wearing that day were, he said they “must have been somewhere” and he didn’t notice if they were damaged. He said he didn’t know what happened to the clothes.
Asked if Jozef took a bag with him to Dublin, he said “I didn’t see any”.
To the question, “Why did you lie to us two days ago?” he responded, “I’m very sorry” and that he “never had to tell on my brother before,”.
When Gardaí asked, “Is there anything else you need to say before it’s too late?” he said “No”.
“Anything else?” asked the Garda interviewer.
“No, that’s all” he said before adding that he felt “better now” having “told the truth”.
To the question, “Have you spoken to Jozef since Friday?” he replied, “No”.
Asked to provide his mobile number he said, ‘I don’t remember it”.
Asked if he could provide it the following day, he said, “My wife, she remembers it.”
When asked to “Text it to us tomorrow?” he said, “Yes”.
The trial continues before Justice Caroline Biggs.