Jozef Puska Loses Appeal Against His Sentence For The Murder Of Ashling Murphy

Thursday, 16 July 2026 11:58

He's serving a life sentence, after he was found guilty of the crime in 2023.

Jozef Puska has lost an appeal against his sentence for the murder of Ashling Murphy.

He's serving a life sentence, after he was found guilty of the crime in 2023.

Jozef Puska had originally filed an appeal against his conviction for murder, but abandoned that last week.

Today, the court heard arguments around his sentence.

After he was found guilty in November 2023, Mr Puska was handed a mandatory life sentence, backdated to the day of the verdict.

Mr Puska's barrister said the only question in today's appeal was whether or not it was appropriate for the trial judge not to backdate the sentence to the date on which he was arrested in 2022.

The three judge panel refused the appeal, and said the trial judge took the matter into account as he was required by law to do, that he has a discretion, and he articulated reasons for exercising his discretion in a particular way.