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Ashling Murphy Murder Trial Hears From Interpreter Who Translated Alleged Admissions From Jozef Puska

Thursday, 26 October 2023 14:02

Jozef Puska has been described as being in low spirits by a translator that worked for the Gardaí.

The Ashling Murphy murder trial has heard evidence from an interpreter who translated alleged admissions from Jozef Puska.

Mr. Puska, who’s 33 with an address at Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, Offaly, denies murdering the 23-year-old school teacher on January 12th 2022.

Miroslav Sedlacek told the jury he was hired by Gardai as a translator for two engagements they had with Jozef Puska while he was in St James Hospital on January 14th 2022.

He said these were conducted by phone, and that he spoke to a Garda with ‘the same voice’ on both occasions.

He said the first occasion – at around lunchtime – Jozef Puska and Gardaí spoke about his journey from Tullamore to Dublin two days previously, and an alleged fight in Blanchardstown in which Jozef Puska claimed he was stabbed.

In a second call that evening, Mr Sedlacek told the jury a search warrant was being executed at the hospital, and that Jozef Puska later asked him to tell Gardaí “I did it” and that it wasn’t intentional.

He described Jozef Puska as being in very low spirits, his voice had changed and that he sounded ‘desperate’.

Under cross examination, defence barrister Michael Bowman put it to Mr Sedlacek that the search warrant being executed wasn’t read out to Jozef Puska in full – which he agreed could have been the case, adding that it was ‘probably a summary.’

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