Jozef Puska Sentenced For Ashling Murphy's Murder
Jozef Puska has been handed a mandatory life sentence for the murder of Ashling Murphy.
The 23-year-old teacher was killed while she was out exercising along a canal in Tullamore, County Offaly, in January last year.
In sentencing, Mr Justice Tony Hunt said it’s about time judges were given the final say in what minimum terms should be.
In his victim impact statement to the court, Ashling Murphy’s boyfriend Ryan Casey said they had planned to move to Dubai and then come back to build their home together.
Ashling Murphy and Ryan Casey. Image: Ashling Murphy Memorial Fund.A statement read on behalf of her mother Kathleen said Ashling’s untouched dinner was found by her uncle in the oven on the night she died.
While her sister Amy told the court they still set the table for five people in the Murphy household, and she told Jozef Puska that he will not live rent free in her mind after today.
An artists impression of 33-year-old Jozef Puska in the dock at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin, 02-11-2023. Image: PA Images/AlamyIn handing a mandatory life sentence, trial judge Mr Justice Tony Hunt said if he had the power to impose a minimum term, it would be a very long one.
