PUSKAS GUILTY

Killer's wife had already confessed | Family members await sentencing

- BY ALISON O'RIORDAN

JOZEF Puska's wife knew he had admitted killing or seriously injuring a woman with a knife when he returned home on the day Ashling Murphy was murdered but failed to tell gardai, it can now be reported.

It comes after Puska's two brothers and their wives were yesterday found guilty of trying to help him get away with murder of the school teacher.

They were convicted of withholding crucial information and burning bloodstained clothes in the hours after evil Puska stabbed the 23-year-old as she went for a jog.

On the day the trial of Jozef's brothers and sisters-in-law began, Lucia Istokova, 36, the mother of Jozef's children, pleaded guilty to withholding information from gardai investigating the murder.

Ms Justice Biggs ordered that Istokova's plea could not be reported until verdicts were reached in respect of the other four defendants, to protect their fair trial rights.

Istokova was released on continuing bail following the plea. Her co-accused were also on bail throughout the trial.

In a 12-day pre-trial hearing, Istokova had challenged the admissibility of her statements to gardai which formed the basis of the charge against her.

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