A memorial day for Ashling Murphy will take place in Tullamore this week.
The event, organised by the Ashling Murphy Memorial Fund, will feature a raffle, face painting, and the national launch of a Gaeltacht scholarship. The event is being organised to celebrate “the life and legacy of Ashling.”
Live music will also be played throughout the day, highlighting Ashling’s involvement with Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Éireann.
The Ashling Murphy Memorial Fund was set up in January 2023 in the young teacher’s memory. It aims to provide funds to groups in the traditional Irish arts, culture and heritage sector. The organisation has established three scholarships in Ashling’s memory to date.
“We would be so grateful to any business who wishes to donate a prize to our raffle. Your generosity will be warmly acknowledged on our social media, website and during the event,” the fund, set up in Ashling’s honour, said in a post.
The 23-year-old teacher was killed while out jogging on the banks of the Grand Canal near Tullamore, Co Offaly in January 2023. The talented musician was stabbed 11 times on the neck, with Jozef Puska having been found guilty of her murder. He is currently serving a life sentence.
In October, five of Puska’s family members were jailed for covering up his role in the brutal murder.
Puska’s wife Lucia Istokova was jailed for 20 months for withholding information, while sister-in-law Viera Gaziova received a two year jail sentence for assisting an offender by burning his clothes. Another sister-in-law, Jozefina Grundzova, was jailed for one year and nine months for assisting an offender by burning the killer’s clothes. Marek Puska Jr, Puska’s brother, was jailed for two and a half years for withholding information. Lubomir Puska Jr, another brother, was also jailed for two and a half years for withholding information.
Responding to the sentences, Ashling’s boyfriend Ryan Casey said that they did not represent justice for Ashling.
“These people burned the clothes of Jozef Puska, which were stained with my partner’s blood. They washed the ashes down their sink in an attempt to cover up for what Jozef Puska had done,” Ryan Casey wrote for Gript.
“These people smirked, smiled, shook their heads throughout the entire trial back in 2023 and even when Jozef Puska was found guilty, they all stood up, started shouting and screaming in their own language their disagreement with the verdict. I was told in the aftermath that they were shouting ‘He is innocent.’”
Ashling Murphy’s father, Ray, said in his victim impact statement to the court in October that the loss of Ashling could not be measured physically, emotionally or financially, adding that: “She could never be replaced.” He recalled how she was just three years old when she received a pink plastic fiddle from Santa which played nursery rhymes and inspired her love of music.
“Ashling always told me that she intended to give that toy fiddle she cherished so much as a child to her own children one day, so they too could play with it and find a love of music,” his statement, read by Garda Alan Burke, said.
The memorial day for Ashling will take place on Saturday December 6 in the Bridge Shopping Centre in Tullamore, from 10am to 5pm.