Puska abandons conviction appeal; court refuses further backdating of life sentence

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

Jozef Puska abandoned his appeal against his conviction for murdering Ashling Murphy, and the Court of Appeal later refused his separate bid to backdate his life sentence by a further 22 months. The court said the sentencing judge had discretion and had given reasons for declining to backdate the sentence to Puska’s arrest.

The conviction appeal had been scheduled for July 15 after its April hearing date was vacated when Puska’s barristers sought to withdraw. On July 10, his lawyers told the court he had abandoned the appeal. The court then heard his argument about sentence backdating on July 16 and refused it; Puska continues to serve his mandatory life sentence.