‘You showed zero remorse’
EVERY day during the murder trial of Jozef Puska, Ashling Murphy’s beloved partner Ryan Casey sat staring at the accused.
Arms folded and sitting just metres from Puska in the dock, he glared at the killer while he listened to the most harrowing of evidence
Sometimes, the vein on the side of his neck visibly throbbed.
Puska, no doubt aware of exactly who Mr Casey is, was careful never to meet his gaze.
That changed on Friday when Mr Casey, an engineer with Boston Scientific, and Ashling’s childhood sweetheart, finally took the stand.
Mr Justice Tony Hunt described his victim impact statement, and those of Ashling’s sister and mother, as the most powerful he had ever heard in all his years on the bench.
Towards the end of the speech, Mr Casey turned to Puska in the dock and spat out these words: ‘I don’t care where you end up… or what happens to you after today… but you smirked, you smiled, and you showed zero remorse throughout this trail, which sums up who you really are, the epitome of pure evil.
‘But one thing is for sure, you will never, ever harm or touch another woman ever again and when your day of reckoning comes, may you be in hell a whole half hour, before God even knows you’re dead.’
Puska’s and Casey’s eyes momentarily locked. Puska then swallowed hard.
It was a temporary loss of composure for the 33-year-old Slovakian murderer, whose demeanour was one of arrogance and cockiness throughout.
Even as Justice Hunt went through the preliminaries of Friday’s sentencing hearing, he used every facial expression he could to display his contempt for the proceedings
Rolling his eyes repeatedly, he stared past the judge to the window above him and trees outside which had lost their leaves in the seven weeks since Puska’s pre-trial began.
But when the three victim impact statements were read, Puska sat staring straight ahead as an interpreter translated the words he no doubt didn’t want to hear.
For the first time, he was alone and unsupported in the court. No member of his family attended.
Ashling’s dad, Ray, put a tight arm around his wife, Kathleen as her words were read to the court by a female Garda Sergeant.
When the police officer came to the last part of the statement, she stumbled and her voice broke with emotion, before she managed to say the words. ‘As a parent, you want your child to go out into this world and live a full and meaningful life yet being acutely aware of how fragile their safety is, wanting to protect them.
‘I couldn’t protect my darling Ashling and now she’s gone forever.’
The garda then wept, prompting Justice Hunt to address her: ‘It’s ok garda, I understand exactly how you feel.’
Amy, Ashling’s older sister, said Ashling was a ‘competitive shopper’.
She told of the delivery men, their eyes full of tears, arriving at the family house in the days after Ashling was killed, with parcels she’d ordered from Zara.
Amy said Ashling was the youngest grandchild of Paddy, who lived next door to them and with whom she had a special bond.
On the last Christmas before he died, Paddy had given Ashling a pink bobble hat, the hat she wore on her last walk down Grand Canal way on January 12, 2022.
He had also bequeathed her his Red Seat 05 registered car, which she drove to the canal that day.
In an anguished voice, Amy described the pain of the car being returned to them by gardaí, weeks after Ashling’s death.
‘My heart sank when I opened the front passenger door to find a half-eaten slice of toast and half drank mug of tea along with her handbag, teaching supplies and a hurl sitting in the front seat. All signs of a young woman preoccupied with the comings and goings of her busy, everyday life,’ Amy said.
She also criticised what she described as intrusive media coverage of the case.
As each member of the Murphy family left the courtroom, they were given a loud round of applause by a crowd of up to 100 well-wishers who were standing on the concourse outside.
Still inside courtroom 14 was Ryan Casey, who was standing with the interpreter who had translated for Puska every day of the trial.
There were tears in her eyes as she told him: ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I was praying for you.’
He put an arm around her shoulder and thanked her before walking out to his own round of applause.