Jozef Puska says he told someone to burn the clothes he was wearing on the Grand Canal in Tullamore on the day Ashling Murphy died.
Mr. Puska, of Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, Co. Offaly, denies murdering Ms. Murphy on January 12th 2022, and has continued giving evidence before the jury.
Jozef Puska claims both he and Ashling Murphy were attacked by the same man along the Grand Canal in Tullamore, and that he was helping the schoolteacher.
He later went into a nearby field, and said he passed out in a ditch before travelling home a number of hours later.
Under cross examination, Ms Anne Marie Lawlor put to him that this story was a set of lies concocted for the jury – he said he told the court what he remembers.
When he returned home to Mucklagh, he said he told his brothers he was in a fight and that he was scared.
He also told Ms Lawlor that he has memory problems ‘very often’ and admitted the clothes he was wearing on the canal that day were burned.
