Court copy by Eoin Reynolds.
A lawyer for Jozef Puska, who is on trial accused of murdering Ashling Murphy, has suggested that the accused was trying to assist Ms Murphy and stop her bleeding when a jogger arrived at the scene.
Jenna Stack told the trial that she was out jogging with a friend when she came across a man in thick undergrowth by the Grand Canal in Tullamore “pinning” a woman down.
Ms Stack described to prosecution counsel Anne-Marie Lawlor SC seeing the man “crouched over, holding her down” while the woman, who she did not know at the time, kicked her legs. She said the man’s “teeth were grinding and he shouted, “get away” and he said something else but I didn’t know what it was.”
She could see the woman “underneath him. His body was kind of crouched over, leaning over her.”
The witness added: “She was lying on the ground and the only part of her body I thought she was able to move was her legs and she was kicking like so hard.”
Ms Stack said it was as if the woman was “kicking like a scissors kick”.
She said: “I knew she was strong, she was moving whatever part of her body she could to get help.” She said the woman looked like a person in the gym doing a scissor kick while lying down. “she was raising them [her legs] really high, really using her core to lift her legs.”
Ms Stack said she did not hear the woman make any sound.
She thought something bad was happening and she said the man appeared to be aggressive. She described him “shouting” with “gritted teeth” at Ms Stack to “get away” when Ms Stack asked him what he was doing. When the man appeared to lunge from the hedge, “as if to frighten us” Ms Stack said she and her friend ran away to get help.
Jozef Puska (33), with an address at Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, Co Offaly, has pleaded not (NOT) guilty to murdering Ms Murphy at Cappincur, Tullamore, Co Offaly on January 12th, 2022.
During cross examination Michael Bowman SC, for Mr Puska, said it is accepted that it was Mr Puska that Ms Stack saw in the hedge. Counsel suggested that what actually happened was that Ms Stack came across Mr Puska “trying to apprehend what had happened and trying to assist Ms Murphy”.
Ms Stack replied: “No, he could have asked us for help.” Mr Bowman suggested that when the witness heard Mr Puska shout, he wasn’t trying to be aggressive but had cut his leg on a briar and called out in pain.
Ms Stack said that “wouldn’t be the impression I got”.
Mr Bowman said Mr Puska’s recollection is that Ms Murphy was moving but not kicking in the manner described by Ms Stack. “One hundred per cent that’s what I saw,” the witness said.
Mr Bowman said: “I’m instructed that Ms Murphy had reached out and was holding or had both hands on Mr Puska’s forearms because he was trying to stop the bleeding in her neck. You didn’t see that?” “No,” the witness replied.
Ms Stack said she could tell that Ms Murphy was moving the only part of her body that she could move while Mr Puska was “leaning over her holding her down”. The witness accepted that she could not see Mr Puska’s hands but, she said, “I saw enough to know she was kicking her legs and completely distressed.” She said that was the impression she left with when she ran away, adding: “I was terrified.”
At the beginning of today’s hearing Mr Bowman made a series of admissions on behalf of his client. He said that it is admitted that Ms Murphy’s body was identified by her brother at Tullamore Hospital and there is no issue with the removal of Ms Murphy’s body from the canal to Tullamore Hospital where she remained until she was identified.
The defence also accepted that the cause of Ms Murphy’s death was stab wounds to the neck with no contributory factors.
The trial is continuing before Mr Justice Tony Hunt and a jury of three women and nine men.
