The man accused of killing Ashling Murphy has told the Central Criminal Court in Dublin that he was stabbed by a man who later attacked the schoolteacher.
Ms Murphy, 23, was killed while exercising on a canal path in Tullamore, Co Offaly, at about 3.30pm on January 12 last year.
Jozef Puska, 33, of Lynally Grove in Mucklagh, Tullamore, has pleaded not guilty to her murder.
He told the court that he was “trying to help” Ms Murphy after the alleged attack.
The jury also heard Puska admit he had lied to gardai, say he has a feeling he has problems with his memory and that he had asked someone to burn his clothes after the attack.
Giving evidence with the assistance of an interpreter, Puska said he was stabbed multiple times by a man on January 12 2022 while walking along the canal between Digby Bridge and the N52 flyover.
“This was the area I was attacked by one male. I have no idea why he attacked me. I was trying to defend myself. He pulled a knife towards me and he attacked me with the knife.”
Puska said he did not know the attacker.
“I was on the bike. He started shouting at me and I didn’t understand him. As I was passing him, then he pushed me.”
Puska said he fell down, stood up, and was pushed on the floor.
“That was the time he was telling me something but I didn’t really understand what he was trying to tell me. He pulled the knife and started threatening me. That he would hurt me, that he would kill me.
“That was the time when he pulled the knife and stabbed me in my stomach. He stabbed me again and he kept shouting something but I really don’t know what.”
Puska said a lady appeared, who he later said was Ms Murphy, after a few moments
“She said something to him, and he started shouting at her. That man stabbed me again, that was the moment when he stood up and he walked or went towards that woman.
“While he went towards the woman, I stayed on the floor lying down and then somehow they disappeared among the bushes.
“I didn’t notice where exactly because I was trying to stand up from the floor.”
He said he heard shouting and went towards Digby Bridge where he saw the man and the woman in the bushes.
Puska said he started shouting at the man who then came towards him.
Through the interpreter, the defendant said: “After a few moments, he turned around and he started running towards the bridge N52.”
He said the man was wearing a surgical mask.
Puska said: “I went towards the lady who was on the floor and I saw her, she was injured. I went around her, behind her so I could see the pavement because I was scared that man could come back.”
He said he tried to use her scarf or shawl to cover her injuries.
“I was trying to help her.”
He said Ms Murphy touched his hand and that he did not harm her.
Puska said he saw a woman and another person at the scene who ran away. He said he now knows the woman was Jenna Stack and said the other person could be Aoife Marron.
“I really got scared. I was in a shock.”
He said he stayed with Ms Murphy for a moment before he got “really stressed” and left.
Puska said he went along bushes into a field where he started to feel “really unwell” and lost consciousness.
He said he woke up when it was dark and went to a friend’s house who drove him to his home in Mucklagh.
He said he later went with his parents to their house in Crumlin, Dublin.
Puska said he started vomiting blood and was taken by ambulance to St James’ Hospital.
He said he “cannot recall very well” his stay in hospital, including speaking to gardai with an interpreter on the phone.
Under cross-examination by prosecuting barrister Anne-Marie Lawlor SC, Puska admitted he had lied to gardai at the hospital in relation to a stabbing in Blanchardstown.
“Yes, it was a lie and I would like to apologise for this”.
Puska said he lied because he was worried about his family in Tullamore.
Asked if he was a person who lies, Puska said: “In some parts, yes, I do admit.”
Asked about evidence that he had confessed to the murder, Puska said he could not agree with this because he could not recall it.
Ms Lawlor asked him if he had later told gardai that he knew nothing about the murder: “Yes, I said it.”
Ms Lawlor said he had concocted “yet another set of lies for the jury”.
Puska replied that he had said what he remembered from January 12.
Ms Lawlor again accused Puska of lying.
The defendant replied: “Everybody has an opinion for this but I said what I remember.”
Puska also told the court he shaved his beard after the murder because he had scratches on his face and head and he wanted to see them.
Ms Lawlor asked Puska about his friend taking him to his house in Mucklagh after the attack.
The defendant said he was worried the man who attacked him could be near the house.
“He could be, why not? I thought that. What if he knew me, I don’t know.”
Ms Lawlor asked if he had given the man who stabbed him his address.
“No, but when he said to me and threatened my family. I thought he knew my family, I was just cautious.”
He added: “He was threatening me about my wife.”
Under questioning from Ms Lawlor, Puska agreed he had left his bicycle beside Ms Murphy’s body.
Asked if he had a problem with his memory all of his life, the defendant replied: “I have a feeling that I do have a problem. Very often it happens that I forget things but I did not speak to any doctor about it.”
Puska told Ms Lawlor that he had asked someone to burn his clothes after the attack.
Ms Lawlor asked Puska if he had been following women in Tullamore on January 12.
The accused said this was not the truth: “I was riding on the bike but I did not follow them.”
He said he had a wife at home and had no reason to follow other women.
He accepted he was riding slowly.
The trial continues.
