Champion boxer who gave free self-defence training still too afraid to run along canal
A CHAMPION boxer who gave free boxing classes to women in Tullamore after Ashling Murphy’s killing said she is still too frightened to run along the canal where the teacher was murdered.
Gráinne Walsh, a Team Ireland boxer who has won back to back national welterweight titles, said she has changed her running route and now avoids the Grand Canal.
Ms Walsh, 28, told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘Obviously it makes it a little bit more frightening when it’s so close to home and it’s a running route that I’ve done many times and since then I haven’t done once.
‘It could happen again. It’s a very slim chance that it would happen again, but I would just be very conscious of going, even though the canal is very busy.
‘She [Ashling] literally did everything right that day; there were people around and still it wasn’t enough, so it just makes you think.
‘I always run around the town now where I know that there’s cars and people at all times.’
Even today, as Ashling’s killer Jozef Puska begins a life sentence for her murder, Ms Walsh said local women are still deeply affected by what happened and are more mindful of where they walk or exercise.
Ms Walsh, who lives near the Grand Canal, told the MoS: ‘The canal line is a beautiful route… it’s flat, so if you’re going for a run, it’s a perfect place, but I definitely know that people have changed their route because of that.’
She said she feels ‘frightened and terrified’ at the thought of what happened to Ashling and that, ‘it could happen and that it did happen five minutes from my house and on a route that I’ve done before’.
The 28-year-old added: ‘On my longer runs I would’ve gone down the canal line and now there’s no way I’d go down there on my own.’
Ms Walsh said that, when she does walk along the canal with family, she always speaks about Ashling.
She added: ‘She’s constantly on everyone’s minds and what happened to her, as horrible as it is, everyone is more mindful of their own movements because of it.’
Ms Walsh said women in Tullamore are, ‘more mindful that the possibility is always there, and yes, it might not happen very often, but it’s still happening too often to people who are completely innocent. That’s where the problem lies.’
She added: ‘People never think it’s going to be them until something like this happens so close to home.’
Since 1996, 264 women in Ireland have died violently, according to the
Women’s Aid
Femicide Watch –
13% of these were killed by strangers.
Ms Walsh encouraged women to go out and exercise in groups to ensure they are safe.
‘I feel like women are afraid to go out and exercise now because they’re on their own,’ she added.