Ashling Murphy's boyfriend had to restrain himself as 'evil' killer grinned
The boyfriend of murder victim Ashling Murphy has revealed how he had to restrain himself in court as her "evil" killer Jozef Puska locked eyes with him and smiled. An emotional Ryan Casey told of how remorseless murderer Puska stared and smirked at him and the family throughout his November 2023 trial. "You just watched this before your eyes and you think this guy's pure evil. And he is evil. I firmly believe it. I made eye contact with him the first day we came in and I never saw such evil in anyone's eyes in my life. Those grey eyes," Ryan said. "He'd look over at us, he'd make eye contact and he'd grin his little teeth. Just nasty little things. Not an ounce of remorse. Unless you're in the courtroom you don't see that I suppose." Brave Ryan, who spoke exclusively to the podcast, 'Shattered Lives,' told how he found himself having to leave the courtroom on several occasions - as he couldn't contain his anger over Puska's brazen arrogance. "To sit there and look at a guy like that for six weeks knowing what he's done to your partner. Don't get me wrong there were a couple of times, you probably saw it, where I had to get out of there. I'll be honest with you, me and my Dad, we had to get out of there. We didn't trust ourselves," he revealed. "We didn't want to jeopardise what the gardai had worked so hard to put together, what was a very strong and robust case. I'd be lying to you and everyone if I was to sit here and say I was able to keep things under control. It was very hard. Especially when he's so close." Ryan opened up about having to sit through the most harrowing evidence of the six week trial - with the jury and family members having to hear of how Puska stalked Ashling as she went for her run along Grand Canal Way in Cappincur, just outside of Tullamore, Co Offaly on January 12, 2022. They heard graphic evidence of how the psychotic killer knifed Ashling 11 times in the neck in broad daylight - and saw shocking CCTV of him stalking multiple women on his bike ahead of the killing. "Looking back at it now, we actually went into court and the immediate aftermath of it not prepared for what we were about to sit through," Ryan told us. "There's another element to it too, that took a lot of us off guard - how the human element of it was removed. It was very factually based and evidence based. A lot of the human side of it was taken out of the question. That was one thing that was hard to accept at the beginning. It was just very matter of fact and it's cold. It's tough to sit through that for six weeks," he said. And he told us why it was important for him and the rest of the family - including Ashling's parents, sister and brother, to be there for the entire trial. "I guess it was important for a sense to bring some sort of humanity into the courtroom. We wanted to be there and represent the person they're discussing. I think it's important, you know, to find that inner strength and to sit there. You know to be there and show to him (Puska) who's sitting five or six metres away from you, we ain't going anywhere. We know exactly what you done to her. A lot of it was about defiance but God damn it was tough to listen to." Ryan told us he was "definitely not prepared" to hear the horrific details of the murder itself, but he says he found the strength to be there for Ashling. "I was definitely not prepared for that part. That was tough. It was just one of those things. It just felt like you had to be there for it. And I don't know, you have to dig deep and show a bit of defiance. Show him and his family members who sat down the back and supported him, how the hell can ye guys support him and what he's done. You want to sit through this and support him after this?" Ryan also spoke about having to sit through Puska taking the witness stand - where he provided an 11th hour new story in which he sensationally claimed he interrupted the real killer - and tried to "help" Ashling. "It was embarrassing and it was just downright disgraceful that he thought he could even spin something the way in which he tried to spin it and it just sums him up in my opinion - to drag a family through that knowing what he's done and to try and spin a ludicrous story like he tried to pull. It's crazy stuff," Ryan said. "It was infuriating. It was so disrespectful and it just sums him up. Anyone that sat in that courtroom knew, not even, it didn't even have to go past a week, a lot of people knew. In my mind I wasn't afraid that he wouldn't get the verdict we were looking for. (But) verdicts and justice are two different things I suppose. How do you get justice for that really? There's no real justice in a case like this." Puska is now serving a life sentence in the Midlands Prison - and for Ryan, he hopes he stays there - though he has considered if he'd prefer he'd been deported back to Slovakia. "There's part of me that thinks keep your enemies close and keep him here under our supervision. Then you see the cost to the State," he said. Asked if he had any message for Puska or for the family members who stood by him throughout his trial Ryan said: "I've nothing to say to them. He was just a good for nothing low life who had nothing going on for himself and what he done that day and why he done it I don't know. I don't think we'll ever know. He's just a good for nothing coward really. And I'm not afraid to say it, the family that stood by and supported him and continues to support him, what are they made of? "If and when the time comes, who knows what the future has in store for us all, I just know if I had a child some day and they came to me and said I've committed such a crime - I'd be the first person to drag you to the garda station, sit you down there and say I never want to see you again if you done what you said you done. How can they support that? "They sat through that trial as well after listening to all the evidence as well. Come on. Is that what you really want in our society too?" This month it also emerged that two of Jozef Puska's brothers who were convicted in connection with their actions following the murder, will not be appealing their convictions. Lubomir Puska Jr, 38, and Marek Puska, 36, along with their wives Viera Gaziova, 40, and Jozefina Grundzova, 32, are all set to be sentenced in October after a jury accepted the prosecution's case that the brothers misled gardaí by failing to disclose crucial and vital information when they gave witness statements, while their wives burned Jozef's clothes to impede his arrest or prosecution. Meanwhile Jozef Puska's wife Lucia Istokova, 36, had pleaded guilty to withholding information from gardaí investigating the murder. But Ryan says he does not ultimately care that the brothers are not appealing - and says the family members were convicted thanks to overwhelming evidence. "They've been found guilty so to be honest with you I don't care what they do. The evidence was there and it was cut and dry. I don't think there's anything wrong with me discussing this. They tried to conceal it. They've been found guilty of that. Is that really the people we want walking around our streets?" he said. The heartbroken young man also opened up about how he wants Ashling - who was a talented musician and beloved teacher - to be remembered. "I want her to be remembered as a person who embodied everything that's good about Ireland. She was interested in culture and the arts, was a very talented musician and she loved giving back to her community. A very loving person, very caring person, very unselfish person," he said. "She would always go out of her way, would always put herself last. Never liked the spotlight. Just a very giving loving nurturing person. Loved her family, she loved children. She'd work all week. She'd come home, she'd teach Friday night and then she'd teach all day Saturday from nine to seven in the evening. "That was her way of giving back but she also did it because she loved kids." 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