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A college good friend of ‘evil’ killer Jozef Puska claimed he should have had a ‘quick circuit’ in his mind when he killed major faculty instructor Ashling Murphy.
The 33-year-old was jailed for all times on Friday after being convicted of the Irish 23-year-old’s homicide final week.
The Mail tracked down former classmate Igor Gazi, 34, who lives reverse the house Puska grew up in, within the distant village of Lucivna, on the foot of the Excessive Tadras mountains, in northern Slovakia.
Puska, who’s of Roma ethnicity, lived within the tiny village, which has fewer than 1,000 residents, till he was a youngster, earlier than he moved to the capital, Bratislava, aged 16 to work on constructing websites, then to Prague within the Czech Republic. He’s believed to have travelled over to Eire along with his spouse, two eldest kids, mother and father and prolonged household round a decade in the past ‘for a greater life.’
Puska’s former household house, a small scruffy concrete dwelling in a poor group stays empty, however locals say it has not been bought and is being sorted by neighbours.
Jozef Puska’s former classmate Igor Gazi, 34, exterior his former house in northern Slovakia
Igor’s father, Jan, 57, described Puska as a ‘righteous boy’ and claimed that he appeared ‘regular and advantageous’ when the household returned house on vacation
Puska’s former household house in Lucivna, a small scruffy concrete dwelling in a poor group stays empty however has nonetheless not been bought in line with locals
Throughout Puska’s sentencing yesterday, Murphy’s devastated boyfriend of six years, Ryan Casey (pictured collectively) turned to Puska as he mentioned: ‘Due to you, I’ll by no means get to marry my soulmate’
Jozef Puska, of Lynally Grove in Mucklagh, Tullamore, had pleaded not responsible to her homicide on the Central Legal Courtroom in Dublin. He was jailed for all times on Friday
Ashling Murphy together with her boyfriend Ryan Casey
Jozef Puska (gray prime centre) is led to a police van after showing at Tullamore District Courtroom on December 20, 2022
Igor, 34, who attended faculty with Puska within the metropolis of Svit, round a mile away, mentioned initially he remained involved along with his good friend when he moved to Eire. Igor mentioned Puska ‘didn’t have any issues’ and he couldn’t perceive what may have turned him right into a killer.
Click on right here to hearken to the Mail’s new podcast The Trial
‘The Trial…’ takes listeners behind the headlines and into the courtroom of among the greatest trials on the planet.
Our first collection, The Trial of Lucy Letby, was a worldwide hit, with greater than 13million downloads.
Season 2 focuses on the killing of Ashling Murphy, a 23-year-old instructor from Eire.
Observe the trial’s proof, with twice-weekly studies from Deputy Information Editor for Mail on Sunday Eire Nicola Byrne and broadcast journalist Caroline Cheetham.
‘I can’t clarify it,’ Igor mentioned. ‘Maybe he had some quick circuit (in his mind) that made him do that.
‘When he was a younger man he had a number of girlfriends as common earlier than he left to Prague.
‘When he moved to Eire we referred to as one another on the telephone. He didn’t even have any issues along with his spouse.
‘Who does not argue in household?’
Igor’s father, Jan, 57, described Puska as a ‘righteous boy’ and claimed that he appeared ‘regular and advantageous’ when the household returned house on vacation.
Puska has no earlier convictions, though he was cautioned for having intercourse with an underage woman when he too was beneath the age of consent in his homeland.
The daddy-of-five was unemployed and residing of incapacity advantages when Ashling was killed, on the towpath of the Grand Canal, in Tullamore, County Offaly, on January 12 final yr.
Gardai informed reporters married Puska, whose spouse, Lucia, stood by him at his trial, messaged ladies on relationship app, Badoo, previous to the homicide. CCTV confirmed him ‘stalking’ different ladies within the city, which is round 60 miles west of Dublin, within the hours earlier than he attacked Ashling at random.
He stabbed her 11 occasions within the neck in broad daylight, then left her dying in brambles beside the canal. The promising musician, who was an achieved fiddle participant, had gone to the canal after work to train and died at 3.31pm. The time of her dying was recorded on the Fitbit watch she as carrying.
Puska initially confessed to her homicide, telling detectives: ‘I did it. I murdered. I’m the assassin.’ However he later retracted this confession, saying it was made when he was drugged up on painkillers in hospital. Puska claimed his accidents – he suffered three stab wounds to his stomach – had been attributable to the ‘actual killer’ who attacked each himself and Ashling on the towpath.
Candles at a vigil in reminiscence of Ms Murphy in Tullamore city park
Puska pictured at a harbour
He had been attempting to assist Ashling when witnesses caught him leaning over her physique within the undergrowth, he claimed.
In actuality, he had stabbed himself and spun a collection of lies in a bid to save lots of his personal pores and skin and evade justice.
The jury, at Dublin Central Legal Courtroom, took simply over two hours to dismiss his account, later described as ‘nonsense’ by the trial choose.
Mr Justice Tony Hunt informed the 9 males and three ladies that he agreed with their verdict and that there was ‘evil’ within the room.
