Ashling Murphy’s mother Kathleen stood with her family outside the Central Criminal Court yesterday holding a photograph of her beautiful girl. Almost two years after the profoundly shocking killing of the young and talented teacher, the man who took Ashling away from them was found guilty of her murder.
Even in their anguish and heartbreak, the decency and kindness of the Murphy family and her boyfriend, Ryan Casey, was evident.
They had to endure the long and torturous weeks of the trial, listening to harrowing evidence as to how their beloved daughter was killed. Everyone following the trial will have wished that there was something that could be done to lift that terrible burden from them.
Even now, as Jozef Puska was found guilty by a jury of Ashling’s murder, those who loved her have been left with the haunting, unanswered question as to why he committed such a brutal, senseless crime.
Ryan Casey said that “the outpouring of love and support” from the whole country was an act of solidarity for those suffering the shock and grief of Ashling’s loss, and she was a “a huge shining light in our community”.
She was a vibrant, intelligent and highly motivated woman who embodied so many great traits and qualities of the Irish people and its communities, he said.
Ashling’s brother, Cathal Murphy, said that his sister had been subjected to incomprehensible violence by a “predator who was not known to her”.
“While we do not glory in any conviction, we recognise the importance of holding accountable those who would commit such terrible atrocities,” he said on behalf of the family.
“The judicial process cannot bring our darling Ashling back, nor can it heal our wounds, but we are relieved that this verdict delivers justice”.
Justice is vitally important – without it, those who are left behind suffer that corrosive sense of justice denied every day. And ensuring that a man who so violently slashed and murdered a woman who was not even known to him cannot now harm another woman is also absolutely essential.
But Cathal Murphy was right, nothing can bring their much-cherished Ashling back to them now. She was just going for a run, and now her vibrant, happy life is no more.
The memories of that beautiful life may be their solace now: their comfort in this most terrible of afflictions, the inexplicable nightmare no family should have to endure.
The memories of Ashling captured in the many photographs that show her moving through life with the blessing of a loving family and community.
In her cap and gown after being conferred with her degree, the family all delighted smiles. Stunning in a red dress, off to the ball. With her friends in college, glasses raised to a night out. Running with her hurley in hand as she played camogie for her local club Kilcormac/Killoughey. Laughing at something in the school where she taught and where the pupils had loved her.
At her funeral, her pupils left candles and homemade crosses and cards – and the greatest tribute a child can give: “I love you Miss Murphy”.
And then there are the many, many photos of Ashling with her fiddle, not just a highly-regarded musician but also a teacher, someone who passed on the music she loved so much, giving classes to children just as she had been taught traditional tunes in her local Comhaltas branch in Ballyboy.
“I played music with her all my life. Started playing music when I was seven or eight, and all through the years, all through the fleadhs, would have been competing with her. You’d always recognise the face. She was lovely,” her friend Neil Corcoran, who attended her funeral with his mother, told a news agency.
She is remembered, not just in the tributes and vigils that have been paid but in the scholarships from Comhaltas established in her memory, and the championship cups that will bear her name.
Musical Director of the National Folk Orchestra of Ireland, Tom Doorley, paid homage to Ashling at the Fleadh Cheoil in 2022, with a beautiful piece – ‘Áilleacht Ashling’ – written to remember and celebrate her life.
“The word celebration in the context of Ashling Murphy is very, very important. Every person she met, was enriched by her, genuinely enriched. There was great connection she had with people,” he said.
She was a wonderful musician and had been a proud member of the Orchestra, as this recording from 2019 shows.
Ashling’s talents brought her on tour with Comhaltas too – and shortly after she was so cruelly taken from life, I talked to a friend who knew her from that tour and he said that not only was she exceptionally talented and beautiful, she was remarkably kind: the sort of person who quietly made it her business to look out for others and to make sure people were included and happy.
Everyone who knew her and admired her and loved her. Her family, in this deeply moving and heartfelt tribute on TG4 said that the house was filled with the sound of her music – remembering how lovely it was to hear the life and joy that brought.
In ómós d'Ashling Murphy, múinteoir agus bean chumasach ar chuile bhealach a d'imigh uainn gan choinne.
Anocht ar #Fleadh2022 rinne muid ceiliúradh uirthi agus ar an mbean a bhí mar cheoltóir den scoth. Mo cheol thú Ashling. 🕯️ pic.twitter.com/4rzfAPfQ9Q— TG4 (@TG4TV) August 6, 2022
Her father, Raymond spoke about the devastating loss of “his youngest girl”, and of all Ashling had achieved in her short 23 years. “If she had another 23 years, what would she have achieved?” he said.
“She always had a big smile for everyone,” her mother said, “from the youngest to the oldest, she always had a smile for them. And she was very lovable and caring, she loved everyone – and she had so much to give to the world.”
The truth of her family’s words can be seen in the clips and photos we have all seen over the past two years. That great big smile, the kindness and openness shone out. These are the things that make the world a better place.
She very obviously loved to play music with her family: her sister Amy and her dad Raymond, all great musicians, bringing flair and style to the traditional tunes. That was part of their gift to the world.
They have that unknowable quality too – the harmony that is achieved within families who instinctively know how each will turn on a note or a phrase.
In ordinary circumstances, grief and loss can be traumatising and hard to bear. But to lose someone so beloved in such a deeply shocking, disturbing, and violent way is devastating, the grief compounded and complicated by horror that such evil could exist.
All those who knew her can do is try to comfort Ashling’s family, in the way that close-knit communities do best, by wrapping their arms around them.
The lovely seannós singer, Caitríona Ní Cheannabháin, once said to me that, in a time of grievous loss, to remember that all those who went before them would be waiting for those we love with arms outstretched to greet them and to make sure they were not afraid.
I hope Ashling is playing the Zena Warrior Princess hornpipe with those who love her in a place where there is only light and joy.
All the goodness done in a life lives after your passing. Those who grieve her can take solace in Ashling Murphy’s beautiful life and in the knowledge that she will not be forgotten. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam dílis.
Ashling Murphy playing in the Senior Fiddle competition at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann 2018 in Drogheda
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam dílis. pic.twitter.com/sDi49yemyb
— Comhaltas (CCÉ) (@Comhaltas) January 14, 2022