The State is likely to seek a 10-year exclusion order on security grounds and because of her criminal conviction
Lucia Istokova, wife of Jozef Puska, arriving at Central Criminal Court(Image: Collins Courts)
The wife who covered up for evil killer Jozef Puska will be freed from jail at the end of this year.
Lucia Istokova was given a 20-month sentence for not telling gardai he confessed to her that he killed teacher Ashling Murphy.
He also lied about his movements on the day of the horrific murder in Tullamore, Co Offaly, in January 2022.
But we have learned she will be released in the first week of January after serving 15 months.
A prison source said: “She is likely to be released at the end of December/ early January.
“She will receive like every other prisoner a 25% remission for good behaviour. This woman has stayed out of trouble and kept her nose clean so far in prison.
“She is being detained in the Mountjoy Dochas centre along with her two sisters-in-laws.
“There were some threats against them from other prisoners when they were first jailed but it all seems to have calmed down now.”
But Istokova, 36, will also be kicked out of Ireland as soon as she is freed and put back on the next plane home to her native Slovakia.
Lucia Istokova at the Central Criminal Court(Image: Collins Courts)
Jozef Puska is serving a life sentence for the murder of Ashling Murphy(Image: Irish Mirror)
Department of Justice insiders said under no circumstances will she be allowed to stay in Ireland even though she is an EU citizen.
The State is likely to seek a 10-year exclusion order on security grounds and because of her criminal conviction.
The source said: “Lucia Istokova did not kill Ashling Murphy, her husband did, but she was involved in the cover up.
“She admitted she did not co-operate with the gardai and failed to tell them that he told her he killed Ashling.
“This is a very serious crime. The murder was one of the worst killings in modern times and sparked widespread public outrage.
“She decided in her wisdom and out of loyalty to her husband and the so-called Roma gypsy way of life not to co-operate at the time.
“Nobody in Ireland would want her living here after her release and the Government is determined to do the right thing by kicking her out of the country.
“Justice must be done for Ashling Murphy’s heartbroken family and boyfriend. Everyone linked to this murder must pay a price.”
The couple’s children have already left Ireland and are being cared for by their grandparents in Slovakia.
They are living along with their cousins in the village of Lucinivna in the Poprad District of northern Slovakia where Puska was raised. He and his two brothers, wives and fourteen children between them had all been sponging off the Irish State.
None of them worked, they all stayed in a house paid for by the Department of Social Protection, and they lived off their weekly social welfare payments and children’s allowance.
This is all now stopped since Puska’s wife and her in-laws were all jailed for their parts in the cover up of Ashling’s murder.
The killer’s brothers Marek and Lubomir Puska were convicted of withholding information from gardai and jailed for two-and-a-half years. They are among the first in the country to be incarcerated for this offence.
His sister-in-laws Viera Gaziova and Jozefina Grundzova were found guilty of assisting Puska by burning his clothes after the murder.
They got two years and one year and nine months jail respectively.
Lucia Istokova used to visit her killer husband in the Midlands Prison every week before she was jailed. It was only a short distance from her home outside Tullamore to Portlaoise.
They had not seen each other face- to-face since she had been in custody.
The Irish Prison System does not allow a married couple who are both serving sentences to see each other.
One of the reasons is there would be security and transport costs moving one to go and see the other. However, it is understood the Puskas are allowed to speak to each other by telephone if they wish.
Under the Irish Prison system rules an inmate is allowed to make one call a day and must designate and submit a small list of people they are calling.
A prison source said: “They are permitted to speak to each other by phone, that’s all I know. I have no idea how much they are talking to each other since we don’t listen in.” Ashling’s father Raymond slammed Puska’s wife and his family for covering up for him and failing to do the right thing.
After the trial, he said the loss of his beloved daughter could not be measured emotionally, physically or financially and she could never be replaced.
He slammed the Puska family for closing ranks to protect “the animal” they call their husband and brother.
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