Jozef Puska sentenced to life in prison for murder of Irish schoolteacher Ashling Murphy

Jozef Puska has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Irish schoolteacher Ashling Murphy in Co Offaly last year.

Puska, 33, of Lynally Grove in Mucklagh, Tullamore, was found guilty of murdering Ms Murphy, 23, by a jury of nine men and three women last week.

There is a mandatory life sentence for murder.

At Dublin’s Central Criminal Court, Mr Justice Tony Hunt said there was only one sentence available, and it was “deserved”.

He said Puska’s evidence had been “indescribable” and the “one thing we don’t know about this case is the why”.

Ashling Murphy's partner has said he and the murdered schoolteacher “simply couldn’t get enough of each other”, and first met when they were teenagers.

Ryan Casey gave a victim impact statement at the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin before Jozef Puska was sentenced for her murder.

Mr Casey said his and Ms Murphy’s relationship was “full with love, trust respect” and “was quite simply heaven on earth”.

He said they had plans to travel together, to build a house, start a family, and get married.

He said they had talked about how many kids they would have, and imagined they would be “little hurlers and camogie players and even better – musicians”.

He said it didn’t make sense to him that someone who is “a burden to society can completely and permanently destroy someone… who is the complete opposite”, describing Ashling Murphy as “a light with dreams, compassion, respect, a person who contributes to society in the best way possible”.

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