overcrowding | 

Evil killer Jozef Puska moved off ‘psych’ ward in Midlands Prison

A previous attempt to move Puska in December was abandoned after the killer threatened to make a legal complaint

Today at 08:43

Evil killer Jozef Puska has been permanently moved off the ‘psych’ ward in the Midlands Prison to the E2 landing — with sources saying he has displayed no signs of mental illness since being moved to the prison.

The Sunday World has learned he was moved to the E2 landing last week after spending the first two months of his life sentence on the C1 left landing — a landing reserved for inmates with mental health problems.

A previous attempt to move Puska to E2 in December was abandoned after the killer threatened to make a legal complaint after he was moved to a cell where he would have had to sleep on a mattress.

The 33-year-old was sentenced to life in prison in November for the murder of teacher Ashling Murphy two years ago.

A source said Puska’s move to E2 had also been influenced by the fact the jail system nationally is experiencing record overcrowding.

“The cells on C1 left are occupied by inmates with mental health difficulties and there are a large number who were considered to be in far more need of a cell on that landing than Puska.

“Since his incarceration, there have been no issues regarding his behaviour and he has displayed no obvious signs of suffering from mental ill health.

“In those circumstances, where the numbers of inmates across the system are stretching resources to a level that has never previously been encountered, isolation cells are being strictly allocated to those in most need.

“He does not fit that criteria.”

Puska filed an appeal against his conviction for the brutal murder of Aisling Murphy on November 21, four days after he was sentenced to life in prison for her murder.

A jury convicted him of the murder the previous week, finding that he stabbed Ms Murphy 11 times in the neck and slashed her once with the edge of a blade before leaving her to die in the thick thorns and brambles by the side of the canal towpath between Tullamore town and Digby Bridge, where a monument in her memory is now placed.

Sentencing Puska, Mr Justice Tony Hunt told him that there was only one sentence to hand down, which he said was “richly deserved”.

The judge lamented that he did not have the power to impose a minimum period to be served and said if he had the power, a whole life-term would have been considered in the case.

He said that before Puska is considered for release the person making that decision would have to take into account that we still don’t know why Puska murdered Ashling.

Puska was placed at the scene by the presence of his distinctive green and black bicycle a few feet from Ms Murphy’s body.

He had been captured on CCTV cycling the same bicycle around Tullamore earlier that afternoon, following two women before heading towards the canal where he isolated Ashling Murphy, who was walking alone.

Puska’s DNA and his fingerprint were found on the bike and his DNA was under Ms Murphy’s fingernails.

The prosecution argued that the DNA under the nails showed that Ashling had scratched her attacker as she tried to save her life.

When gardai spoke to Puska the day after the murder his face and hands were covered in scratches that were consistent with him crawling through the briars by the side of the towpath where he murdered Ms Murphy.

In his testimony, Puska claimed he was cycling along the towpath when he was stabbed by a masked man. He claimed the same man then attacked and stabbed Ms Murphy before running away.

In what prosecution counsel Anne-Marie Lawlor SC described as a “foul and contemptible fabrication”, Puska claimed that he then tried to help Ashling by pulling her scarf up around the wound to her neck.

He said he realised he couldn’t help her and crawled through the briars to an adjoining field where he fell unconscious for about four hours.

No motive has been offered for the killing and lawyers in the case and Ms Murphy’s family have stressed repeatedly that there was no connection between Puska and Ms Murphy.