Ashling Murphy showed “no signs of life” when paramedics attended to the 23-year-old schoolteacher along the Grand Canal in Tullamore, Co Offaly, in January 2022, a jury at the Central Criminal Court has heard.
On the fourth day of the trial of Jozef Puska (33), of Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, Co Offaly, the jury were also shown CCTV footage of Ms Murphy’s final hours, and clothes and jewellery recovered from beside the canal where her body was found.
Mr Puska, a native of Slovakia living in Ireland for 12 years, has, through an interpreter, denied the murder of Ms Murphy at Cappincur, Tullamore, on January 12th, 2022.
On Friday, Paul McCabe, an advanced paramedic, told Anne Marie Lawlor SC, for the prosecution, that on the day in question, he and his colleague received a call at approximately 3.49pm to attend at the location where Ms Murphy’s body had been found.
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Mr McCabe said that he and his colleague, along with gardaí, “created a chain” to try and drag Ms Murphy’s body away from the canal embankment, and onto a nearby tarmac path area.
The paramedic said that Ms Murphy’s jacket and a runner came off while she was being dragged onto the tarmac. Mr McCabe said that he noticed “a number of wounds” in her neck area.
Mr McCabe said that they then retrieved a defibrillator to check for signs of life. Mr McCabe said that they sheared Ms Murphy’s top to apply the pads, but deduced that they were unable to shock Ms Murphy.
“Her pupils were fixed and dilated … there was no signs of life,” Mr McCabe told the court. “Her skin was pale and cold.”
As clinical lead at the scene, and in consultation with others present, Mr McCabe said that he decided to cease resuscitation efforts. Mr McCabe said that they could “do no more” for Ms Murphy and covered her with a blanket.
A number of items retrieved from the scene were shown to Det Gda Ronan Lawlor and the jury, including a pair of sunglasses, a pink woolly hat, a white t-shirt, a GAA top, a pair of Nike runners, a gold-coloured ring, a FitBit watch and a necklace with the name “Ashling” on it.
The jury was also shown several tranches of CCTV evidence, taken from cameras in Tullamore and its environs, and in Dublin, compiled by Detective Garda David Harney after gardaí harvested over 25,000 hours of footage.
The jury was shown CCTV footage of Ms Murphy walking through the car park of Scoil Naomh Colmcille, in Durrow, Co Offaly around 2.40pm, towards her car, described by Det Gda Harney as a red Seat.
In a clip recorded later, Ms Murphy is picked up on CCTV close to the Grand Canal, before 3pm.
In some CCTV clips recorded between 12.25pm and 2.05pm in various locations, Mr Puska is shown moving through Tullamore on a bicycle. He was described in the footage by Det Gda Harney as wearing a black hoodless top and black trousers with a white stripe on it, and with a shaved head and beard.
At 1.38pm, a woman wearing a maroon jacket is seen walking on Church Road, in the direction of Tesco, in Tullamore Retail Estate. Mr Puska is seen moving in the same direction afterwards.
In another clip, at 1.53pm, Det Gda Harney said that Mr Puska is visible stopping his bike and reaching into his pockets at Hop Hill Grove, Tullamore. He brings both of his hands to the front of his body, and appears to be holding something, he said. Det Gda Harney watched this clip numerous times over the course of several months, he told the court.
The defence later put it to Mr Harney that the footage was not of sufficient quality to discern what is happening. “That’s what I believe I can see,” the garda said.
It is the prosecution’s case that after 2.05pm, Mr Puska is not picked up on CCTV footage again until 8.55pm, Det Gda Harney agreed.
That evening, a “dark figure” described by Det Gda Harney as wearing a “black jacket, black trousers with a white stripe” is observed on CCTV at various locations in Tullamore.
The jury was also shown footage of Mr Puska and his parents arriving at an apartment complex on Armagh Road, in Crumlin, Dublin 12 at 00.58am on January 13th. Det Gda Hanley said that Mr Puska can been seen “moving normally, freely” with a phone his hand.
The trial, in front of a jury of nine men and three women, continues on Monday.
