‘We have evil in this room’: Judge tells Jozef Puska he will have ‘day of reckoning’ for murder of Ashling Murphy

Jozef Puska is facing a life sentence after being convicted by unanimous jury verdict of the murder of Ashling Murphy in Co Offaly early last year.

Puska had denied the murder of the 23-year-old schoolteacher at Grand Canal Way, Cappincur, Co Offaly, on January 12th, 2022.

Ms Murphy had 11 stab wounds in the right side of her neck which caused acute blood loss and her heart to stop.

She and Puska, a 33-year-old native of Slovakia living in Mucklagh, Co Offaly, since 2015 with his wife and five children, were not known to each other, the Central Criminal Court heard.

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The jury of nine men and three women were sent out by Mr Justice Tony Hunt at 3.35pm on Wednesday to begin their deliberations, were sent home at 4pm, and resumed their deliberations at 10.53am on Thursday.

After lunch, it was indicated to the court registrar at 2.05pm that, after deliberating for a total of some two hours, they had a verdict.

All parties were then contacted and the verdict was delivered at 2.18pm in a packed courtroom 13.

[ Why did Jozef Puska murder Ashling Murphy? The answer may be known only to her killer ]

Ms Murphy’s parents Ray and Kathleen, her sister Amy, brother Cathal and her long-time boyfriend Ryan Casey, sat together, supported by friends.

Mrs Murphy, who was dressed in black, as was Amy, held a framed photograph of her daughter Ashling as the jury foreman handed the verdict to the court registrar.

The family became emotional and held each other as the registrar read the word “guilty”.

Puska, sitting alongside an interpreter, put his hands over the face when the word “guilty” was read.

Members of his family, including his parents, were seated in the back of the courtroom. One held what appeared to be a religious cross and Puska’s father spoke angrily in Slovak.

Mr Justice Hunt told the jury he agreed with their decision. “I’m glad you didn’t waste any more of your valuable time to deal with Puska’s nonsense, because that is what it was.”

That was no reflection on the defence lawyers, he said. “You can’t make bricks without straw and what Mr Bowman [Michael Bowman SC] had in his hands was poor stuff indeed.”

“Quite literally, you made sure nobody got away with murder,” the judge told the jury, before exempting them from jury service for 20 years.

He said he had to impose a sentence on Puska as mandated by law, but before that the victim’s family would have an opportunity to provide victim impact statements. He will hear the statements on November 17th.

[ Ashling Murphy trial: Family relieved murderer Jozef Puska would ‘never harm another woman’ ]

There was a lot of detail about Ashling, her GAA top, her being a primary schoolteacher, that resonated with people, the judge said. The case was particularly difficult for Ashling’s family because of the public focus on it, but the reason for that focus was the kind of person Ashling was.

To lose a child is unnatural, he said. When a child gets an illness or dies in an accident, parents may be able to reconcile themselves in some way, but the position of the Murphy family is “unenviable”, considering what had happened.

The manner in which their child was taken away from them was enough to make a person physically ill, he said. There would be “a day of reckoning” for Puska, he added.

“We have evil in this room, no doubt about that.”

As the jury left the courtroom, there was loud applause from the Murphy family and many others in court. Mrs Murphy held up Ashling’s photo to the jurors, some of whom were in tears.