Slovak Convicted Of Teacher Murder That Shook Ireland
Dublin, (APP – UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 10th Nov, 2023) A Slovak former builder was found guilty in Dublin Thursday of brutally stabbing to death a Primary school teacher last year in a case that shocked Ireland.
Ashling Murphy, a popular teacher and musician, was murdered aged 23 as she jogged along a canal near Tullamore, central Ireland, in January 2022.
Jozef Puska, 33, faces a mandatory life sentence after the jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict at Dublin‘s Central Criminal Court, Irish media reported.
The prosecution described the evidence against Puska, who denied the murder when the trial began last month, as “overwhelming”.
During the trial the court heard that Murphy had 11 stab wounds in her neck which caused acute blood loss and her heart to stop.
Puska, wearing a grey jacket and shirt, sat alongside an interpreter, bowing his head several times and putting his hands over the face as the guilty verdict was read out.
“We have evil in this room, no doubt about that,” said the judge Tony Hunt.
Hunt told the jury he agreed with their decision and was glad they did not spend more time than necessary to consider Puska’s “nonsense”.
Despite incriminating DNA tests, security camera footage and his confession to police days after the murder, Puska pleaded not guilty, claiming an unknown assailant killed Murphy and that he tried to help the victim.
Puska, a father-of-five former builder who came to Ireland 10 years ago and had been living near Tullamore since 2015, will be sentenced on November 17.
The teacher’s killing in broad daylight sent shockwaves through Ireland and resonated in Britain, where a string of killings around the same time highlighted violence against women.
Women‘s Aid, a national organisation combatting the impact of violence against women, welcomed the conviction.
Murphy’s murder was “a shocking example of dangers posed to women and the case put a spotlight on the inherent risk of male violence in society”, the group said in a statement.
“Every woman should have the right to be safe, both in their own homes and in their communities.”
