Ashling Murphy trial: accused told garda, ‘I am the killer’

Murphy, who was also a traditional Irish musician, died next to the Grand Canal at Cappincur. Her body was found at the bottom of an embankment.

Last Friday, on day ten of the trial, the court was told how a DNA profile found from scrapings under Murphy’s fingernails on both her left and right hands matched two samples belonging to Puska that were taken at St James’s Hospital and while he was in custody.

Dr Lorna Flanagan, a DNA specialist at Forensic Science Ireland (FSI), said the chances of the samples belonging to another male, including his relatives, were “one in 14,000”.

A DNA profile found from scrapings under Ashling Murphy’s nails matched Puska’s sample

She told Anne-Marie Lawlor, the prosecuting counsel, that she carried out male-specific DNA profiling called Y-STR profiling, on the samples taken from under Murphy’s fingernails. Flanagan explained that this meant looking for characteristics relating to the male Y chromosome only.

She said the samples were taken from under her fingernails because this would indicate more than just passing contact between two people.

Flanagan added that the estimates given by the forensic science laboratory were considered conservative calculations. “A step more conservative than world-wide calculations,” she said.

The previous day, Miroslav Sedlacek, an interpreter from the Czech Republic who provides translation services in Czech, German and Slovak, told the jury of nine men and three women how Puska told him while on speakerphone at St James’s Hospital on the evening of January 14 that he killed Murphy but “not intentionally” and that he was “very sorry”.

“Jozef wanted to know if he was a suspect,” Sedlacek said. “The garda [who accompanied Puska] explained to him that he’s not a suspect but a person of interest.”

Sedlacek said after about 30 seconds of “some thinking”, Puska asked him to “translate his confession” and that it was “quite spontaneous”. According to Sedlacek, Puska said: “Tell him that I did it, I killed her.”

Sedlacek said Puska then asked if there was any possibility that “the girl’s family” would want to take “revenge” on his own family for what he had done. He was assured by a garda that there wasn’t.

Sedlacek added: “After he had made the confession, he was quite emotional, his voice was trembling, his sentences were already quite disjointed, but I suppose it was a result of the situation that he was in. I would describe him as being in very low spirits, I would say even desperate, after the confession.”

John Hoade, a DNA specialist at the FSI, was tasked with identifying whether he could develop a profile from a swab taken on a Falcon Storm mountain bicycle that was found at the scene of the murder.

Murphy died in Cappincur. Her body was found at the bottom of an embankment

EAMONN FARRELL/ROLLINGNEWS

Hoade said he was able to generate a full DNA profile which matched that of Puska. He said the chances of the DNA belonging to someone other than Puska were “one in one billion”.

On Friday afternoon, David Scahill, a detective sergeant attached to Tullamore garda station, told the court how he arrested Puska for Ashling’s murder after Puska was discharged from St James’s Hospital just after 11.30am on January 18, 2022.

Scahill said he “cautioned” Puska and asked him if he understood the reason for his arrest. He said Puska nodded and was then brought to Tullamore garda station where he was detained under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act and interviewed.

Scahill said that Ciara Martin, the garda in charge at the station at the time of Puska’s arrest, agreed to detain Puska at Scahill’s request. He said Puska had a meeting with his solicitor and was examined by a doctor.

After his formal release the following evening, Scahill said he became aware through Brian Farrell, a detective inspector, that the director of public prosecutions had made a decision to charge Puska with Murphy’s murder. Scahill said he rearrested Puska on January 19. Puska was cautioned by Scahill to which he replied “No”.

During a cross-examination by Michael Bowman, the defence counsel, Scahill said he was “not aware” if the decision to arrest Puska was widely known by the public. He said he did not recall there being a crowd of people outside the front of the garda station when Puska was brought in as he entered through the rear of the building.

Martin, who took the stand after Scahill, was asked by Bowman if she had left the station at any point for “a cup of tea, a biscuit”. Justice Tony Hunt, the trial judge, interrupted the examination and said “this trial is about what happened in a ditch”.

On Thursday morning, Roz Gillen, a nurse at St James’s Hospital and the site nurse manager when gardai arrived at the hospital with a search warrant for Puska’s belongings, gave evidence and said she made the decision to move Puska to a private room as she thought this would be “most appropriate”.

During a cross-examination by Bowman, Gillen said that gardai did not request to speak to Puska’s treating doctor, nor did they ask if Puska was fit to be dealt with by gardai. She agreed that she had no function in detecting the fitness of a patient to deal with the gardai, but had there been a request to speak to his treating doctor, that would have been facilitated.

The prosecution case will continue when the trial resumes on Tuesday