The man accused of killing school teacher Ashling Murphy has taken to the stand and has claimed he had ‘no bad intention whatsoever’ when he was questioned if he had followed another teacher.
Accused Jozef Puska, a native of Slovakia, and a father of five, took to the stand again in day 13 of the trial at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin.
He plead ‘not guilty’
Mr Puska, 33, from Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, near Tullamore, Co Offaly, has pleaded not guilty to killing Ms Murphy as she walked along the Grand Canal on the afternoon of January 12 last year.
His decision to speak in his own defence came following the end of the prosecution’s evidence against him, for the alleged murder of the 23-year-old teacher in Tullamore, Co Offaly.
The jury heard yesterday that Ashling Murphy fought for her life, and put up a ‘big struggle’ against her attacker.
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A memo of a garda interview noted that detectives said to him: ’23-year-old primary school teacher, whole life ahead of her, went for a walk.’
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Trial’s evidence
Season 2 focuses on the killing of Ashling Murphy, a 23 year old teacher from Ireland.
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Sergeant Padraic Hanley said that judging from her injuries: ‘I do know that Ashling fought for her life, put up a big struggle with her attacker.’
He said it was a common procedure for scrapings to be taken from under the nails of murder victims, and that women often had longer nails.
‘When they struggle for their lives they use their nails to defend,’ he said.
The detectives put it to him that he knew where he was on the day that Ms Murphy was ‘brutally murdered’, on January 12 last year.
