MAN FOUND GUILTY OF ATTEMPTED MURDER OF THREE CHILDREN IN DUBLIN

Riad Bouchaker has been found guilty of attempting to murder three children during a stabbing attack in Dublin on 23 November 2023. A jury at the central criminal court also convicted Bouchaker of assault causing serious harm to childcare worker Leanne Flynn and of assaulting two other children and a teenager. The attack occurred when children emerged from a creche in Parnell Square in the city centre. Bouchaker used a 12-inch kitchen knife during the assault.

The court heard that Bouchaker, an Algerian national and Irish citizen who had lived in Ireland for two decades, learned that morning that he had been refused a social welfare payment. He collected a backpack and knife from his hostel before waiting outside the childcare centre. When children lined up by a railing, he attacked, stabbing a five-year-old girl in the heart. Flynn sustained two collapsed lungs and injuries to her diaphragm, stomach and spleen whilst protecting the children. Bystanders incapacitated Bouchaker during the attack. During the three-week trial, Bouchaker denied all eight charges and stated he did not intend to kill anyone, though prosecutors argued his targeting of small children's upper bodies, necks and heads indicated intent to kill.

The attack triggered rioting that night, with rioters looting shops and setting fire to buses, a tram and police vehicles in what officials described as the worst unrest in decades. The five-year-old girl stabbed in the heart now has a brain injury, is non-verbal, uses a wheelchair and is fed through a tube. A five-year-old boy and six-year-old girl required hospital treatment for less severe injuries. Sentencing is expected to follow.