Ashling Murphy trial: Woman says man was following her ‘for quite a bit of time’ on day of killing

A woman has told a murder trial jury she believed a man was following her “for quite a bit of time” while she was walking in Tullamore and along the Grand Canal on the day Ashling Murphy was killed.

When Michael Bowman SC, for Jozef Puska, suggested to Anne Marie Kelly that Mr Puska may “have been in close proximity to you but was not following you”, Ms Kelly said: “It appeared like he was following me”.

Ms Kelly, a primary school teacher, was giving evidence on Monday in the continuing trial at the Central Criminal Court of Mr Puska (33), of Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, Co Offaly.

A native of Slovakia living in Ireland 12 years, Mr Puska has, through an interpreter, denied the murder of Ashling Murphy (23), at Cappincur, Tullamore, on January 12th 2022.

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The jury has been told the defence accepted Ms Murphy died as a result of 11 stab wounds to her neck and there were no other contributory factors.

On Monday, Ms Kelly told Anne Marie Lawlor SC, for the DPP, she began her walk on Church Road, Tullamore, about 2pm on January 12th, 2022.

She “felt someone was very close to me”, turned around and saw a man cycling a bike “very close behind me”. She said he “was staring directly at me” and stepped in to let him pass “but he wouldn’t pass”.

She continued walking but “felt very uncomfortable”, stopped again and looked at her phone to make sure he had to pass her, she said. As he passed, he “looked very closely at me” and it was as if he was in slow motion, she said.

He was wearing a dark zip up jacket, of slim build, about five foot seven or eight and had a shaved head, black stubble, was “very distinctive”, with “really dark” eyes, dark eyebrows and sallow skin. Her initial thought was he was “a foreign guy”.

He had passed her by “super slow, staring directly, looking back over his shoulder even as he was cycling, it felt like an intimidating stare”, said Ms Kelly.

She continued her walk and was deciding whether to go onto the grass margin path of the canal when she noticed the man standing to her left, off his bicycle.

She said she was nervous of him but decided he would be unable to cycle on the grassy path. She was walking fast on that path and then noticed him a few metres behind her walking with the bike. She got to a white van some 400-500 metres down and noticed him right behind her, maybe a foot in distance away.

As she passed the white van, she saw a man whom she thought might be a farmer, aged in his fifties or sixties, and they said hello. She continued to walk fast, stopped for her dog to follow or tie her lace, and the man with the bike went in front of her, walking his bike very slowly.

She decided to “put my head down” and jog past him without engaging. She said she could see him coming “quite fast” up the hill and she decided to jog onto to Digby Bridge, which she crossed to return back to Tullamore on the opposite side of the canal.

After Digby Bridge, she saw a number of people, including a man aged perhaps about 70 and a well-dressed woman in her forties. She also met a young woman in a peach hat whom she thought was in her twenties who was “smiley”, “really friendly” and chatty about the dog.

Ms Kelly was shown CCTV taken around Tullamore from January 12th 2022 and said a person cycling behind her on the CCTV was the same person whom she had told the court was following her.

Under cross-examination, Mr Bowman said to her that Mr Puska recollects passing her “but not staring” at her and says he never intended to stare at her. She replied: “That’s what I saw.”

She was thinking she just wanted to get away from him and also thought “maybe he’s just foreign and he’s lost”, she said. She was not sure if Mr Puska was smoking but did not think he was.

When Mr Bowman suggested Mr Puska was in front of her in or around the white van, she said he was “definitely behind me” until she stopped about 50 metres past the van.

When Mr Bowman said Mr Puska’s recollection is the man at the van was wearing a boiler suit, she said she did not recollect that.

The court also heard evidence from two firefighter paramedics based in Dolphin’s Barn, Dublin, who responded to a call on January 13th, 2022, to go to an address at Armagh Road, Crumlin.

Conor Mackey said they were told someone had been stabbed and were led to a bedroom in the apartment where a man appeared to be in pain.

The man was assessed and appeared to have three stab wounds across his abdomen which were not actively bleeding, he said. The man was not speaking to them in English and a woman there translated for them, he said.

Neil Cusker said he, as an advanced paramedic, would direct paramedics in relation to any care plan for a patient. He said he could see three stab wounds across the man’s abdomen and scratch marks on the skin surface of his head and hands. The wounds on his stomach were small and thin, did not seem fresh, there seemed to be dried blood on them and he could not tell how deep they were.

Some medication was administered and, when a National Ambulance Service (NAS) ambulance arrived, they handed over care of the man to them, Mr Cusker said.

Rian Finch, a paramedic with the NAS, said she attended at the apartment in Crumlin sometime between 11am and noon on January 13th 2022. She had no active communication with the patient who was moved, using a chair, into the ambulance outside, she said.

Another witness, Beata Borowska, was shown CCTV footage of locations in Tullamore on January 12th, 2022. She agreed the CCTV showed her crossing a car park to enter a Tesco store. She said she had no awareness of anyone behind her.

Niamh Arthur said she and her boyfriend Jamie left her office in Tullamore about 8.30pm on January 12th, 2022 to return to her home in Kilbeggan via the N52.

Jamie was driving and she saw a man in dark clothing on her side of the road, nearest the verge, between the Tesco store and the AES recycling centre, or possibly beyond the centre, she said.

She “got a fright” because the man was in dark clothing. He was “acting kind of suspicious”, “tucked in at a weird angle and acting weird”, she said. She and the man “locked eyes” and he “looked shocked, he looked lost”.

She recalled him as aged in his thirties, neither a black nor white person but “some other race”, not too tall or short and with darkish hair. She thought he had maybe “got kicked out of a car” and believed he was “trying to be hidden”. Her boyfriend, a driving instructor and a “very vigilant” driver, did not see him at all.

Under cross-examination, she said she saw the man for a matter of seconds.

Roy Jennings said he left his home in Tullamore about 8.30pm on January 12th, 2022. He said he had “heard what happened” earlier that day and decided “to pop out and have a look” on his way to the Aldi store.

At the Daingean Road roundabout, as he passed the AES recycling centre, it was “pitch black” and “out of nowhere” came a guy with a beard wearing dark clothing and walking on the side of the road, he said.

Mr Jennings said he was in the Aldi store for about 10-15 minutes and, on his way back home, he saw the man he had seen earlier. He said the man had crossed over the road and Mr Jennings was approaching him face on.

The man’s tracksuit bottoms were black with a cream or white stripe down the side of the leg and “looked roughed up kind of, as if he was rolling in grass or muck”. The man looked as if he had a Middle Eastern appearance.

Two days later, he was sent a CCTV image of an alleged suspect on a bike and the first thing he noticed was the “distinctive” tracksuit bottoms that he saw. The person looked very similar to the person he had seen on the night of January 12th, and he contacted the gardai.

Under cross-examination, he agreed he had told gardaí he thought the man was wearing a baseball hat but he was not sure.

Ms Murphy’s parents, Raymond and Kathleen, her sister Amy and brother Cathal, were again in court as were members of Mr Puska’s family.

The trial continues on Tuesday before Mr Justice Tony Hunt and a jury of nine men and three women.