Ashling Murphy trial: Man was crouched over girl whose legs were ‘kicking very hard’, witness says

A woman has told a murder trial jury that, while running with a friend on the Grand Canal, she saw a man crouched over a girl whose body she could not see but whose legs were “kicking very hard like she was crying out for help”.

Jenna Stack said she saw the man on the afternoon of January 12th, 2022, as she and her friend were running towards Cappincur near Tullamore and just after she had seen a bicycle in the hedgerow.

Ms Stack was giving evidence on the second day of the trial of Jozef Puska (33), of Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, Co Offaly.

Through an interpreter, Mr Puska, a native of Slovakia living in Ireland some 12 years, has denied the murder of Ashling Murphy at Cappincur, Tullamore, on January 12th, 2022.

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In her address on Tuesday for the prosecution, Anne Marie Lawlor SC said its case is that Mr Puska stabbed Ashling Murphy 11 times in the neck while she was jogging along the Grand Canal on the afternoon of January 12th 2022.

Ms Lawlor said the prosecution will call evidence that, while Mr Puska was in St James’s Hospital two days later, he told gardaí, through an interpreter: “I did it. I murdered. I am the murderer”.

Ms Murphy’s parents, Raymond and Kathleen, her sister Amy and brother Cathal, were in court again today when the trial resumed before Mr Justice Tony Hunt and a jury of nine men and three women.

Mr Puska was seated, alongside an interpreter, opposite the jury. Some members of his family were also in the packed court. An overflow courtroom has been set up, where people can watch the proceedings by video link, due to the public interest in the case.

At the outset, the judge told the jury that Michael Bowman SC, for Mr Puska, was making certain admissions, under section 22 of the Criminal Justice Act on behalf of his client which would obviate the necessity for the prosecution to prove certain matters.

Mr Bowman told the jury it was admitted, under section 22 of the 1984 Act, that Cathal Murphy identified his sister Ashling at Tullamore hospital on January 12th 2022.

No issue was taken that Ms Murphy was removed from the canal line and take to hospital where she remained until identified, counsel said. It was also accepted that Ms Murphy’s cause of death is as identified by a doctor who found stab wounds to the neck and that there were no other contributory factors, Mr Bowman said.

In her evidence, Ms Stack, a primary teacher living in Killy, Co Offaly, said she and her friend had heard loud rustling while they were out running and they looked through a dense hedge and she could see the back of a jacket, it appeared to be a bomber or padded type jacket.

She had called and asked ‘Are you okay?’ and a man turned. She said it was as if he was crouched over something. She could only see the back of a jacket.

“I was just facing his back,” she said. When he turned, she could see his face clearly, but not his hands and she could see a girl’s legs kicking.

She asked him what was he doing and he said: “Get away” and his teeth were “gritted”.

“It was terrifying. He spoke with a foreign accent. He had a shaved head, sallow skin, dark eyebrows and dark stubble on his face.”

“He was still sitting down, the girl was still kicking, he was leaned over.” She said that he was “crouched over holding her down”.

“His face, his teeth, were kind of grinding and he shouted ‘get away’. He said something else at the time but I didn’t know what it was.”

She said she could see a girl underneath him, his body was crouched over her, he was covering her body and she could not see the girl’s body, she said.

“She was kicking so hard, like a scissors kick, she was using whatever part of her body she could to get help.” The girl was wearing charcoal cotton tracksuit bottoms and runners and socks, she said.

As she was kicking, the man was still holding her down, she said.

Ms Stack said she knew something bad was happening, she thought the man was going to rape the girl and she told him she was going to call the guards although she had no phone with her.

The man appeared as if he was going to come out of the hedgerow and she feared he would come after herself and her friend, she said. Her friend had gone away a bit and she said ‘Come on’ and they ran as fast as they could towards Cappincur, towards Digby Bridge.

They told two men on bikes what they had seen but they did not appear to take them seriously. They then told gardaí after seeing a Garda car near Cappincur. She later made a statement to gardaí, Ms Stack said.

In cross-examination by Michael Bowman SC, for Mr Puska, Ms Stack said she had not seen the man’s hands. She thought he had his hands on her mouth because she could not hear any sound.

This all lasted about 30 seconds, she agreed.

She said the man’s eyebrows were distinctive. The girl was lying parallel to the canal, she said.

Her recollection was that the man was not on the other side of Ms Murphy.

She said she was confident in terms of her ability to observe his face. He had shouted up at her to ‘Get away’, she said.

Counsel suggested Mr Puska was endeavouring to find out what had happened and trying to assist Ms Murphy. “No, he could have asked us,” she said.

She was not aware of anyone else being present or in the field behind the hedgerow.

Counsel said Mr Puska’s recollection is there was an engagement, he could not make out what she was saying, he did not intend to be in any way aggressive and when he was seeking to speak with her, he pulled his leg on briars and had shouted out in pain.

That was not her recollection, she said. She had said she was going to call the guards, she said.

Mr Bowman said Mr Puska has no recollection of her saying that at all.

Mr Puska’s recollection was not that Ms Murphy was kicking he legs in a scissors type motion, counsel said.

Mr Bowman said the woman was reaching out and had her hands on Mr Puska’s forearms because he was trying to stop the bleeding,

Ms Stack said she knew something was wrong. “She was moving every part of her body that she could possibly move and he was leaning over her holding her down.” She agreed she could not see his hands. The girl was “completely distressed”, she said.

She said, after she and her friend ran on, for about two minutes, they stopped and turned around and saw someone on a bike with a high vis top and she tried to get their attention. Her friend had run on ahead and there were two men on bicycles at Digby Bridge, one of whom her friend knew, and they set out their concerns to them about what they had seen.

She agreed she was asked to attend an identity parade and had identified a person on that parade as the same person she had seen on the canal.

Mr Bowman said that person was not Mr Puska.

Ms Stack agreed she had made the identification based on her honest impression at the time. She agreed she had said she picked out the person because of his eyes.

Re-examined by Ms Lawlor, for the prosecution, Ms Stack said she had made a mistake when she picked out the man she had selected on the identity parade. Asked had she made any other mistake in her evidence, she said she had not.