Five Puska family members jailed over offences after Ashling Murphy murder

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Five family members of Jozef Puska were sentenced at the Central Criminal Court on 22 October 2025: Marek and Lubomir Puska received 30 months each for withholding information from gardaí, Lucia Istokova received 26 months for the same offence, Viera Gaziova received 30 months for assisting an offender by burning clothes, and Jozefina Grundzova received 27 months for that offence. The final six months of each woman’s sentence were suspended.

The four family members tried by a jury were convicted in June 2025: the brothers for withholding information and Gaziova and Grundzova for assisting an offender by burning Jozef Puska’s clothes. Istokova had pleaded guilty to withholding information before the trial began. The judge said the offences involved a decision to withhold information and lie, but did not prevent Jozef Puska from being apprehended and convicted.

Ashling Murphy was murdered by Jozef Puska in January 2022. In sentencing, the judge said she considered the harm, culpability and mitigating factors, including that none of the five had previous convictions.