"We have evil in this room," - judge tells courtroom

by Eoin Reynolds

Jozef Puska (33), who stabbed 23-year-old school teacher Ashling Murphy 11 times in the neck as she went for an afternoon walk, has been found guilty of her murder by the unanimous verdict of a Central Criminal Court jury.

"We have evil in this room," Mr Justice Tony Hunt told the jury after thanking the nine men and three women for their verdict on Day 18 of the trial. Puska, he said, will have his "day of reckoning".

The Murphy family applauded the jury's verdict and embraced one another as Puska was surrounded by prison officers preparing to take him to the cells and back to prison. He will be sentenced to the mandatory term for murder of life imprisonment on November 17.

Puska (33), with an address at Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, Co Offaly, had pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Murphy at Cappincur, Tullamore, Co Offaly on January 12, 2022. He stabbed Ms Murphy eleven times in the neck and slashed her once with the edge of a blade before leaving her to die in the thick thorns and brambles by the side of the canal towpath between Tullamore town and Digby Bridge, where a monument in her memory is now placed.

At 2pm this afternoon, after about two hours of deliberations, the jury minder returned to court 13 in the Criminal Courts of Justice building on Parkgate St in Dublin to tell the court registrar that the jury had reached a verdict. Ms Murphy's family, who have attended every day of the trial, were summoned, along with barristers, media and Puska himself, who had been waiting in the cell area.

Once Mr Justice Tony Hunt had taken his seat, the jury filed into the court with the foreman carrying the issue paper. Taking the paper from the foreman, the registrar said, "You say that the accused Jozef Puska is guilty of murder on count number one, is that a verdict of you all?"

"Yes", the foreman replied.

Puska, wearing a grey jacket and white shirt with his long hair slicked back, put his head down when the verdict was delivered. There was an audible sigh of relief from Ms Murphy's family and their supporters.

Mr Justice Hunt told the jury that he agrees with their verdict, having listened to the evidence the same as they had. He added: "I'm glad you didn't waste any more of your valuable time with Puska's nonsense, because that's what it was." He said he was not referring to Puska's legal team, led by Michael Bowman SC, who have "the most difficult job in this court".

"Even a person like Puska is entitled to put forward a defence," the judge said, "and it's a really difficult job defending these cases."

He described the defence's job as "thankless and unpopular" but said if we want a proper legal system "even people like this are entitled to make such a defence as this." Mr Bowman, the judge said, is required to act on instructions but, "You can't make bricks without straw and what Mr Bowman had in his hands was poor stuff indeed."

The judge commended the jury for their hard work and exempted them from jury service for 20 years. "Quite literally, you have made sure nobody got away with murder," he said. Puska, he said, will have his "day of reckoning".

Mr Justice Hunt said people had become engaged in the case, which attracted a large crowd of reporters and members of the public to the daily hearings, because of who Ashling was, a person involved in her community, in GAA and a teacher who loved children.

Then, turning to Puska who was sitting in the dock with his head bowed, the judge said: "We have evil in this room, there's no doubt about that." As the jury rose to leave, Ms Murphy's family gave them a round of applause before embracing one another. Mr Justice Hunt adjourned sentencing until November 17 when the Murphy family will be invited to address the court on Ashling's behalf and to speak of the loss they have suffered since her death.

Puska was placed at the scene by the presence of his distinctive green and black bicycle a few feet from Ms Murphy's body. He had been captured on CCTV cycling the same bicycle around Tullamore earlier that afternoon. The prosecution alleged that the footage showed him following two women before heading towards the canal where he isolated Ashling Murphy, who was walking alone.

Puska's DNA was found on the bike as was his fingerprint and his DNA was under Ms Murphy's fingernails. The prosecution argued that the DNA under the nails showed that Ashling had scratched her attacker as she tried to save her own life. When gardai spoke to Puska the day after the murder his face and hands were covered in scratches that were consistent with him crawling through the thorns and briars by the side of the towpath where he murdered Ms Murphy.

In his testimony to the trial, Puska claimed that he was cycling along the towpath when he was attacked and stabbed by a masked man. He claimed the same man then attacked and stabbed Ms Murphy before running away. In what prosecution counsel Anne-Marie Lawlor SC described as a "foul and contemptible fabrication", Puska claimed that he then tried to help Ashling by pulling her scarf up around the wound to her neck. He said that he realised he couldn't help her and crawled through the briars to an adjoining field where he fell unconscious for about four hours.

The jury rejected his version of events. No motive has been offered for the killing and lawyers in the case stressed repeatedly that there was no connection between Puska and Ms Murphy, despite internet rumours of a connection.

They took just two hours to reject Puska's story and find him guilty.