A man has been sentenced to life for the murder of Irish teacher Ashling Murphy.

Jozef Puska, 33, of Mucklagh, Tullamore, was found guilty last week following a trial, where the jury was told by the judge “we have evil in this room”.

At Dublin’s Central Criminal Court on Friday, Mr Justice Tony Hunt said there was only one sentence available, and it was “deserved”.

He said Puska’s evidence had been “indescribable” and the “one thing we don’t know about this case is the why”.

The partner of Ashling Murphy has said he and the murdered schoolteacher “simply couldn’t get enough of each other”, and first met when they were teenagers.

Ryan Casey gave a victim impact statement at the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin before Jozef Puska was sentenced to life in prison for her murder.

Mr Casey said his and Ms Murphy’s relationship was “full with love, trust respect” and “was quite simply heaven on earth”.

He said they had plans to travel together, to build a house, start a family, and get married.

He said they had talked about how many kids they would have, and imagined they would be “little hurlers and camogie players and even better – musicians”.

He said it didn’t make sense to him that someone who is “a burden to society can completely and permanently destroy someone… who is the complete opposite”, describing Ashling Murphy as “a light with dreams, compassion, respect, a person who contributes to society in the best way possible”.

His 23-year-old victim was killed while she was out exercising along a canal in Tullamore, County Offaly, in January last year.

She was wearing a Fitbit which showed her exercise started at 2.51pm. But 30 minutes later it tracked “erratic, violent movements”. At 3.31pm, the Fitbit was no longer recording any heartbeat.

Mr Murphy’s death drew outrage across Ireland and the UK, prompting calls for more to be done about femicide.

During the trial, the court heard a man was seen in a ditch with a woman, believed to be Ms Murphy, and he shouted for a witness to go away.

The witness said Ms Murphy appeared to be fighting back, but not making any noise.

Mr Justice Hunt told the jury “we have evil in this room” after the verdict.

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