Five in court over Ashling Murphy murder investigation

Five people have appeared in court charged in connection with the investigation into the murder of Ashling Murphy.

The 23-year-old primary school teacher was murdered in Tullamore on January 12, 2022.

All five, two men and three women, were arrested in Dublin yesterday and brought before Tullamore District Court this morning (Wednesday).

34-year-old Marek Puska, 35-year-old Lubomir Puska and 34-year-old Lucia Istokova were charged with withholding information on dates between January 12th 2022 and January 27th 2022.

Two others - 33-year-old Jozefina Grundzova and 38-year-old Viera Gaziova - were charged with impeding the arrest of an alleged offender on dates between January 12th and 14th 2022.

All five who are Slovakian were provided with an interpreter for the court hearing in Tullamore today (Wednesday).

The court imposed reporting restrictions on publishing the addresses of the five accused.

Judge Michele Finan remanded the five accused on bail with a number of conditions including that they all surrender their passports, they reside at the addresses provided to the court and notify gardai of any change.

The five are due back before Tullamore District Court on July 26th when gardai told the court the book of evidence will be served.

They were all granted legal aid in court.

The trial of the man accused of Ashling Murphy's murder, 32-year-old Jozef Puska, is due to take place later this year.