Man found guilty of attempting to murder three children after attack that caused Dublin riot

A man has been found guilty of trying to murder three children in a stabbing attack in Dublin in 2023. This crime deeply shocked Ireland and led to a large protest, known as a riot, in the city.

On Wednesday, a jury at the central criminal court also decided that Riad Bouchaker, who is 52 years old, was guilty of causing serious harm to Leanne Flynn, a childcare worker. He was also found guilty of attacking two other children and a teenager.

Bouchaker used a long kitchen knife, about 30cm (12 inches) long, to attack Flynn and the children. This happened on 23 November 2023, as they were leaving a childcare centre in Parnell Square, in the city centre.

That same night, angry people shouted slogans against immigrants. They broke into shops, burned buses, a tram, and police cars. This was the worst period of public disorder in Dublin for many years.

Bouchaker is from Algeria but is also an Irish citizen and had lived in Ireland for 20 years. The court was told that on the morning of the attack, he had just found out his request for a social welfare payment was refused. He then took a backpack and the knife from his hostel and waited outside the childcare centre.

When the children lined up by a fence, he attacked them. He stabbed a girl, who was five years old at the time, in the chest. She now has a brain injury, cannot speak, uses a wheelchair, and needs to be fed through a tube. A five-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl also needed hospital treatment for injuries that were not as serious.

Bouchaker stabbed Flynn as she tried to protect the children. She suffered collapsed lungs and injuries to her diaphragm, stomach, and spleen. He also attacked two other children and a teenager who tried to help and managed to take the knife away.

Other people nearby also intervened and managed to stop Bouchaker. They hit him until he lost consciousness, and he was left with a head injury that needed hospital care.

A psychiatrist hired by the defence team argued that Bouchaker was not mentally well enough to stand trial. However, a psychiatrist for the prosecution disagreed. The judge, Tony Hunt, decided that Bouchaker could stand trial, with an interpreter and an intermediary to help him communicate.

Over the three weeks of the trial, Bouchaker denied all eight charges. He stated that he did not intend to kill anyone. However, the prosecutors argued that his actions – using a knife, targeting small children, and aiming for their upper bodies, necks, and heads – showed a clear intention to kill.

The jury, made up of three women and nine men, found Bouchaker guilty of all charges. Judge Hunt thanked the jury and stated that their verdicts were consistent with the evidence presented. He will announce the sentence in September. He concluded by saying that there was nothing more that needed to be said on that day.