A man has been found guilty in Dublin of the murder of Ashling Murphy while she was out jogging in broad daylight, in a case that sent shockwaves across Ireland. Murphy, 23, a teacher and musician, was killed on a canal towpath near Tullamore in County Offaly in the Irish midlands in January last year after being set upon and stabbed 11 times in the neck and left to die in a deep ditch. Jozef Puska, 33, a former builder, faces a mandatory life sentence after the jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict at Dublin’s central criminal court. The murder led to vigils across the country and an outpouring of grief and anger over violence against women and girls. Mr Justice Hunt said he agreed with the jury’s unanimous decision, describing the suspect’s denial and claim that he too was stabbed as “nonsense”. “We have evil in the room, no doubt about that,” he said after they returned their unanimous verdict after just two hours. At first there were quiet sighs of relief from Murphy’s parents, Ray and Kathleen, her brother, Cathal, and sister, Amy, as well as her boyfriend, Ryan Casey, who sat in the public gallery of the packed courtroom. That turned to a loud round of applause as the jury left the courtroom. The prosecution described the evidence against Puska as “overwhelming”. He denied the murder when the trial began last month, claiming he had been attacked and stabbed himself. But the jury concluded he was lying after just two hours. Murphy was not the first person Puska targeted, with the court hearing from two other women who he had followed that day on his bike, both of whom now consider they may have had a lucky escape. Puska had blamed the murder on a mysterious unknown man in a surgical mask who had stabbed him – a wound that was believed to have been self-inflicted as part of an attempt to create an alibi. Puska, a Slovakian national, had lived in the area since 2015 with his wife and five children. During the trial the court heard that the stabbing had caused acute blood loss and Murphy’s heart to stop. Hunt said that to lose a child was unnatural and acknowledged how difficult it must have been for the victim’s family that there was so much focus on the case. He told the court there would be a “day of reckoning” for Puska who faces sentencing on 17 November after the preparation of victim impact statements. Murphy’s family later gathered outside the court. Kathleen Murphy held a framed photograph of her daughter, while Murphy’s brother and boyfriend stepped forward to speak to gathered reporters. Her brother said: “Ashling was 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. The judicial process cannot bring our darling Ashling back, nor can it heal our wounds, but we are relieved that this verdict delivers justice. It is simply imperative that this vicious monster can never harm another woman again.” As Murphy’s sister and parents listened, Casey thanked police, the prosecution and the public for support the family received. Speaking also on behalf of the Murphy family, he said: “From day one, the outpouring of love and support was felt in abundance from the Irish people both at a national and international level as they stood in solidarity with our family to both mourn the loss of our beautiful, talented Ashling and to condemn gender-based brutality with visceral repulsion.”