Jozef Puska was soaking wet, ashen-faced, shaking with cold and covered in scratches and bruises when he arrived home about six hours after he had stabbed 23-year-old schoolteacher Ashling Murphy to death.

By then, Ashling’s violent killing led every news bulletin and flashed across social media. Another man, entirely innocent as it would later become clear, was in a Garda station being questioned on suspicion of her murder.

It was obvious to the adults in the Puska household that Jozef (then 31, now 35) had been involved in something terrible.

Much of the detail of how Jozef Puska murdered Ashling Murphy came out during his trial in 2023. The trial of his brothers Marek (36) and Lubomir jnr (38), and their wives Jozefina Grundzova (32) and Viera Gaziova (40), earlier this year gave insights into the Puskas’ lives. Their statements, made in the days after the murder, give further detail of how the killer, his brothers and their wives tried to thwart the Garda investigation.

On June 17th, a jury by unanimous verdict found Marek and Lubomir jnr guilty of withholding crucial information from investigating gardaí. Jozefina and Viera were found guilty by majority verdict of burning the killer’s bloodstained clothes in an effort to obstruct his prosecution.

All of them had pleaded not guilty to all charges.

[ Five members of Puska family jailed over actions in wake of Ashling Murphy murder