A 52-year-old man has been found guilty of the attempted murder of three children and assaulting four other people in Dublin's Parnell Square in November 2023. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing BBC News.
Riad Bouchaker, of no fixed address, was also found guilty of assault causing serious harm to crèche worker Leanne Flynn, and of assaulting two other children and a teenager. The Central Criminal Court heard that a five-year-old girl has been left with a life-long brain injury after Bouchaker stabbed her in the heart.
In total, he was found guilty of all eight charges, which he had denied. The jury was sent out on Tuesday, they deliberated for around six hours and reached a verdict on Wednesday afternoon. Judge Tony Hunt thanked the jury for their "hard work" and said "having to listen by some of what you heard is very difficult". Sentencing has been set for 12 October and Bouchaker will be remanded in custody until then.
The attack on 23 November 2023 sparked riots across much of Dublin. The most riot police in Irish state history were deployed to deal with the unrest. Within hours of the attack, rioters destroyed 11 police vehicles, while 13 shops were badly damaged and more were looted. Three buses and a tram were also destroyed and several police officers were injured. Ireland's police chief at the time, Drew Harris, blamed the rioting on a "lunatic, hooligan faction driven by a far-right ideology".