Puska brothers deny 'cover-up' raps after Ashling murder

Pair go on trial with wives accused of withholding info & over torched clothes

- BY EOIN REYNOLDS

THE trial has begun of two brothers and their wives who are accused of withholding information or assisting Jozef Puska after he had murdered 23-year-old schoolteacher Ashling Murphy three years ago.

At the Central Criminal Court, Ms Justice Caroline Biggs swore in a jury of five women and seven men to hear the trial, which is expected to last up to five weeks.

Ms Justice Biggs told the jury that Jozef Puska, 35, murdered Ms Murphy in January 2022 close to a canal in Tullamore, Co Offaly. He was tried and convicted of her murder.

The judge said this trial relates to the alleged actions of Jozef Puska's family members in the immediate aftermath of that murder.