Ashling Murphy murder: Jozef Puska found guilty of murdering Irish schoolteacher

Jozef Puska has been found guilty of murdering Irish schoolteacher, Ashling Murphy last year. Ms Murphy, 23, was killed while exercising on a canal path in Tullamore, Co Offaly, on the afternoon of January 12, 2022.

Thirty-three-year-old Slovakian national Puska, of Lynally Grove in Mucklagh, Tullamore, had initially pleaded not guilty to her murder. The verdict was reached unanimously by the jury of nine men and three women after beginning deliberations on Wednesday (November 9).

The jury was praised by Judge Mr Justice Tony Hunt for their service and granted a 20-year exemption from jury duty. He said that the quick decision demonstrated that the case was straightforward. He also said he was satisfied the decision was right and that he agreed with it. He did, however, assert that the case was unquestionably "difficult and upsetting."

Judge Mr Justice Tony Hunt told the jury “we have evil in this room” after Puska was found guilty, adding: “There will be a day of reckoning for Puska.”

He told the court that losing a child was unnatural. Speaking of the Murphy family, he said: “Their position is unenviable. How their child was taken away, to consider what happened here is enough to make you physically ill.”

The jury were applauded as they exited the chamber as Ms Murphy’s mother held up a framed photograph of her daughter.