BEAST WAS ON PROWL PUSKA TARGET’S LUCKY ESCAPE
Killer ‘set to attack other woman...but man at van saved her’
ASHLING Murphy’s murderer was set to attack another woman before he stabbed the schoolteacher to death, gardai believe.
Evil Josef Puska stalked Ann Marie Kelly on January 12, 2022 — the day Ashling was killed.
But Ann Marie managed to get away when an older man appeared by a van.
PRISON bosses won’t allow evil Jozef
Puska to boycott his sentencing hearing for the murderer of Ashling Murphy, it has emerged.
“The judge has ordered him to be there and we will make sure that is what happens,” a source told The Star last night.
Puska — who was convicted last week for the shocking January 2022 murder of teacher Ms Murphy in Tullamore, Co Offaly (33) — has no option but to attend and won’t be allowed to refuse to be in court tomorrow, sources say.
Fears were expressed that Puska (33) could copy the tactic of UK serial killer nurse Lucy Letby — who boycotted her sentencing in an English court in August.
Letby (33) refused to attend her sentencing, when she was told she would die in jail for the murder of seven babies and attempted murder of six more, and prison authorities had no power to force her to be present for the court hearing.
The British government later vowed to change the law to force murderers to appear in court for their sentencing — but sources have told us that Irish prison authorities already have such powers.
Order
A source said prison officers would have to obey every instruction issued by trial judge Mr Justice Tony Hunt — including forcing Puska to attend the court.
“A judicial order is an order and must be followed,” one source said.
“If Puska pulls a stunt and tries not to go into the courtroom, then he will be forced to attend. There will be no boycotting of the proceedings. He will be there.”
Sources said the only way he could be excused by the court was if he was too ill to attend — but there is no sign of that.
During his 16 day trial for the murder of Ms Murphy, Puska made a half-hearted suicide attempt and missed a day of the hearing — but prison bosses are on alert for another incident and he is on 24-hour observation in Dublin’s Cloverhill prison.
Slovakian national Puska will receive the mandatory life sentence in court 13 of the CCJ complex in central Dublin tomorrow after a jury unanimously convicted him of Ms Murphy’s murder on January 12. 2022.
Irish lifers usually serve around 20 years in prison, but sources have told us Puska is likely to spend the next three or four decades behind bars.