‘ENTIRELY UNDERSTANDABLE’ | 

Rapturous applause for Ashling Murphy’s mother as she holds up framed photo of her daughter following verdict

Today at 08:03

Kathleen Murphy was holding the framed picture of her daughter high above her head when she defiantly turned it to the side, directing Ashling’s face towards Jozef Puska.

She had first hoisted Ashling in the air, beautiful and smiling, up to the jury, just as they got up to leave.

The gesture, one met by rapturous applause from the public gallery, was an acknowledgment of the unanimous verdict – guilty.

From there, she turned Ashling towards Puska and finally, holding it in place for some time, she faced the picture towards Puska’s family at the back of the room.

Only when the jury had left, when the loud, thunderous clapping had stopped, did the picture of Ashling, the victim at the centre of all of the horror, finally rest against her mother’s chest.

“I did ask for silence,” said Mr Justice Tony Hunt, referring to the clapping. “But I think that’s entirely understandable.”

In the end, the customary knock never came. Instead, it was the unexpected appearance of the jury minder, shortly after 2pm, that caught everyone off guard.

Walking over quickly to the registrar, he whispered into his ear. As he disappeared again through the door to the jury room, the registrar gave a slight, yet unmistakable nod to gardaí at the back of the room.

The verdict was in.

The Puska family, who were already in the room, huddled close and chatted to each other.

The women in the group held their hands together onin prayer, nervously looking in the direction of the accused.

Outside, in the marble atrium that circles the fourth floor, detectives and members of the gardaí were milling around aimlessly and pacing the floor. As word trickled out that the jurors were on their way back, there was an undignified surge for the door.

Within minutes the courtroom was jammed. Just a couple of minutes later, Jozef Puska strode back into the court. He stood momentarily in the accused bench as his solicitor gestured to him to stay calm.

Puska sat down in his seat, his hands clasped, and his head slightly bowed, staring intently at a spot in front of him. Breathing slowly and deeply, he waited.

After struggling to make her way through the hordes of people gathered at the back of the courtroom, Ashling’s older sister Amy was the first of the Murphy family to take her seat. She was followed closely by her brother Cathal and Ashling’s boyfriend Ryan.

Ray and Kathleen Murphy were among the last to enter, Kathleen emerging through the crowd dressed in a black dress with a diamante belt, clutching the picture of Ashling.

For almost 10 minutes, the court waited for Puska’s interpreter to appear. As mere minutes passed by in what seemed like hours, onlookers strained to see how Puska was coping with the fact that in a very short time he would finally learn his fate. His defence barrister, Michael Bowman SC, never appeared.

The tension was palpable. Around them the courtroom fell into a respectful silence, only broken by occasional whispers and the rustling of the pages of reporters’ notebooks.

The Murphy clan gathered close, their faces grim, and their anxiousness plain for all to see. The room was so, so quiet.

“We have our interpreter,” announced the registrar as Puska’s femaletranslator eventually bolted through the door. She took her place, as she has for the past four weeks, next to the accused man. Neither of them exchanged a single word.

2:35

‘It can’t bring our darling Ashling back but this verdict delivers justice’ – Murphy family release statement as Jozef Puska found guilty of murder

Mr Justice Tony Hunt asked for silence.

Minutes later, the jury minder led the jurors back into the courtroom. The chatter stopped and everybody stared. The foreman was clutching a single page – the issue paper on which the verdict must be written. For a room so packed there was an eerie silence – only punctured by the odd cough or whisper.

“Mr Foreman, ladies and gentlemen, you have reached a verdict on which you all agree?” the registrar asked.

“Yes,” was the reply.

And as Joszef Puska was deemed guilty of murdering Ashling Murphy, an extraordinary calm fell over the room. In the public gallery, a friend of the Murphy family threw her hand up in the air in triumphant approval.

A collective exhale of breathwas all that was heard from the row where the Murphy family were sitting.

Wrapping her arms around her motherKathleen, Ashling’s sister Amy closed her eyes. On the other side of his wife, Ray Murphy began to weep.

In the accused bench, Puska dropped his head in defeat. Seconds later he glanced over at his father, but the look went unseen. His father was motionless, staring hard ahead. Next to him, the Puska women began to weep. One of them, an elderly relative, held up a cross and shook it at people, saying “everyone in this room, Jesus”.

The jury, said Mr Justice Hunt, had reached the correct verdict.

“We have evil in this room,” he said.

It was a comment that was met with a chorus of muffled agreement.

Soon later, Puska was led away by prison guards, looking back as he was ushered through the door. His father, now on his feet and visibly angered, shouted loudly as his family were directed out of the court.

While the court emptied, extended family members and friends of the Murphys stood crammed together, openly weeping, unable to cope with such a sudden release of tension. They turned to each other, unable to say much more than, “thank God, thank God”.

On the far side of the room, seven or eight members of the garda investigation team sat in totalsilence. Many sat with bowed heads, quietly crying, discreetly trying to wipe the tears from their eyes. Slowly, they made their way towards the family to shake their hands.

In turn, Ray, Kathleen, Amy and Cathal embraced them, a genuineshow of affection and gratitude for the work done over the last year to secure the conviction.

At the door just before they left, there was a moment for Anne-Marie Lawlor SC, the barrister who acted for the Statein the case against Puska.

“Thank you, Anne-Marie,” said Kathleen, pulling her in tight.

For the first time in four weeks, during a harrowing trial that saw the terror of her daughter’s final moments laid bare, Kathleen Murphy stood tall.

As she left Courtroom 13 one last time, stepping into the arms of the well-wishers outside, she hugged the picture of Ashling close to her heart as the doors behind her banged shut.