Five relatives of Jozef Puska, the convicted murderer of Ashling Murphy in the Republic of Ireland, have been sentenced for their involvement in obstructing justice. The tragic incident occurred in January 2022 when Murphy, a young woman, was fatally stabbed while walking near her home in Tullamore, County Offaly. Puska’s wife, Lucia Istokova, and his brothers, Marek and Lubomir Puska Jr., were found guilty of withholding crucial information from the Irish police, known as gardaí. Istokova received a 20-month prison sentence, while the brothers were each sentenced to two and a half years. The maximum penalty for this offense is five years. Additionally, Puska’s sisters-in-law, Viera Gaziova and Jozefina Grundzova, were convicted of assisting an offender by destroying evidence, specifically burning Puska’s clothes. Gaziova was sentenced to two years, and Grundzova to one year and nine months, with the maximum sentence for this crime being 10 years. During the trial, the Murphy family expressed their profound grief and frustration. Raymond Murphy, Ashling’s father, stated that the family’s small solace in knowing Puska was imprisoned and isolated would have been stripped away if his relatives had successfully concealed his guilt. Ashling’s sister, Amy, described how the murder had devastated their lives, robbing them of joy and meaning. The judge acknowledged the Murphy family’s immense suffering, emphasizing the limitations of the criminal justice system in alleviating their pain. She noted that the defendants’ actions represented a deliberate effort to protect Puska, despite his confession to the murder.
