The Presidents’ Letters

Jozef Puska had an address at Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, Co Offaly when he murdered teacher Ashling Murphy. We know this address only because of journalists who were in court for his first appearance and later trial. They wrote the address in their pieces. I am staggered at the amount of people who do not know that court reports - unless reporters are directed otherwise by the judge or they are of no fixed abode - contain the accused’s: Name Address Age. The main reason we do this is to make sure the accused person is properly identified, not someone of the same name. Say, for example, there were two Jozef Puskas in Offaly, the other one could and would sue the media if the clarifcation was not there. He would argue he had been labelled a murder accused. I cannot believe people who are adults and interested in current affairs suddenly getting outraged at accuseds’ details appearing in reports and threatening journalists over it. Have you never read a court report before? Solidarity to the journalists involved.