Defence barrister Michael Bowman SC, for Mr Puska, told the court that the evidence is not as clear and straightforward as the prosecution says
Murder accused Jozef Puska told the court “contemptible lies” and the evidence against him is “overwhelming,” the prosecution has told the jury.
Later defence barrister Michael Bowman SC, for Mr Puska, told the court that the evidence is not as clear and straightforward as the prosecution says - and called on the jury not to bring about a verdict which is “an affront to the reality.” Ms Lawlor SC, for the prosecution said that she is arguing- “without any doubt” that Mr Puska killed Ashling Murphy - and pointed to his confession to gardai while he was in St James Hospital - the day after she was killed.
She went on to describe the accused as a “liar,” telling the jury that he “has lied on multiple occasions and admitted lying.” Ms Lawlor says we know that the person witness Jenna Stack saw on top of Ms Murphy was Jozef Puska - and that the accused would have you believe that she simply came across “a good Samaritan.”
Ms Lawlor said that the jury therefore must consider that either Ms Stack is lying to them or Mr Puska is lying to them. She said Mr Puska was “four and a half hours hiding in the ditch,” and it is much more likely that he was hiding there because the place became mobbed with gardai. Ms Lawlor said she did not know when Mr Puska inflicted the stab wounds on himself - but we know that he told Detective Garda Fergus Hogan in St James Hospital “I did this,” when pointing to his stab wounds.
He put it to the jury that it could be equally likely that Ms Murphy “understood she was being helped and was not calling out for help,” at that moment. The Romanian man was also identified as cycling up the road - but he was released from custody when the DNA on the bike found at the scene ultimately did not match him.
He says it was suggested that this was a passing contact - and he pointed to the fact that the defendant himself accepts that Ms Murphy had touched him.
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