Ashling’s grieving father pays tribute to crowd who mark her anniversary
AT 3.20pm – the exact time schoolteacher Ashling Murphy was attacked on the Grand Canal, on January 12, 2022 – a robin flew down and landed beside the canal-side memorial erected in her honour, as a crowd of about 200 people said a decade of the rosary.
On the second anniversary of Ashling Murphy’s horrific killing, her father Ray paid a warm tribute to the family’s friends and neighbours who supported them during their darkest hour.
‘It’s tough, but look at all these people here today,’ Ray Murphy told the Irish Mail on Sunday, as he gestured towards the crowd who gathered to remember his hugely popular and talented daughter. ‘It was a lovely tribute to her,’ he added.
Earlier, Ashling’s family led a short commemorative walk to the spot by the Grand Canal in Tullamore, Co. Offaly, where Ashling was murdered, and once again their local community huddled around to support them.
Young women pushing buggies, schoolchildren holding their mothers’ hands, grandparents and many of the schoolteacher’s friends all crowded onto a freezing canal path outside Tullamore town to mark the anniversary of her death. Local detectives who investigated the case were also present.
Then, just as he had done on the canal the day after she was murdered, her father – an accomplished musician and well-known banjo player – began to play Ashling’s favourite song, When You Were Sweet Sixteen.
Her boyfriend Ryan Casey swallowed hard as the music played. Beside him, Ashling’s older sister Amy played the concertina, and next to her, Ashling’s mother Kathleen wore a pink bobble hat, the same colour and type of hat her daughter was wearing on the day she died.
To their right was Digby
Bridge, a picturesque little humped bridge built in 1797. Two centuries later, it now has a notoriety never imagined.
On January 12, 2022, Ashling was out exercising after work. She had just crossed the bridge and was heading back to her car when her killer, Jozef Puska, pounced. Within ten minutes, she was dead. Ashling’s death inspired vigils around the world and was a watershed moment for women fed up and outraged at the violence perpetrated by men against them.
On Friday, Amy Murphy laid a bouquet of red and white flowers at her sister’s memorial.
It read: ‘Missing you baby sister each and every day. Always on our minds and in our hearts Ash. Lots of love Amy.’