What the jury didn't hear: Why the judge rejected bid to dismiss charges against Riad Bouchaker

Flowers left close to the scene where a serious stabbing incident took place on Parnell Square East in Dublin. File picture: Gareth Chaney/ Collins Photos

Lawyers for Riad Bouchaker argued during his trial that the judge should direct not guilty verdicts on two of the attempted murder charges against him.

Trial judge Mr Justice Tony Hunt rejected the application, finding there was sufficient evidence to allow the jury to safely consider guilty verdicts.

Bouchaker's defence did not seek an acquittal in relation to the girl who suffered the most serious injuries.

However, counsel argued there was insufficient evidence in relation to the other girl, who suffered a laceration to her scalp, and the boy, who suffered a superficial laceration to his neck.

The defence submitted there was no evidence that the boy's injury had been caused by Bouchaker or that he intended to kill either child.

Mr Justice Hunt said the jury was entitled to take a broader view of the circumstances. He said there was an interpretation of the evidence that would allow the jury to conclude Bouchaker intended to kill rather than do anything else. 

The jury could find, he said, that when a large man used a knife against the head, neck or torso of a small child, he had an intention to kill.

He said the jury would also be entitled to consider the persistence, violence and ferocity of Bouchaker's actions in the confined circumstances over the relatively short period before others intervened.

He said the jury was also entitled to draw inferences from the fact that Bouchaker waited until the last pedestrian had left the area and Ms Flynn was momentarily distracted while zipping up a child's coat before moving towards the children.

The judge also found that the jury could reasonably conclude the superficial laceration to the boy's neck was caused by Bouchaker rather than by some unknown event. He quoted case law stating that a charge should only be withdrawn from a jury if allowing it to proceed would result in a miscarriage of justice.

However, the judge agreed to leave alternative verdicts for the jury to consider on the attempted murder charges. 

There is, he said, a high bar to proving attempted murder. If the jury was not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt on any of the attempted murder charges, he did not want it left in a position where its only option was to acquit.

He therefore gave the jury the option of returning a verdict of not guilty of attempted murder, but guilty of intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm in relation to the girl who suffered the stab wound to the heart. 

On the other two attempted murder charges, he offered the jury the alternative verdict of guilty of assault causing harm.

'Blandly Cheerful'

In December last year, Bouchaker's lawyers argued before the Central Criminal Court that he was suffering from a mental disorder and was unfit to stand trial.

During the hearing, a defence consultant forensic psychiatrist told the court that she interviewed Bouchaker on five occasions over the previous two years with the aid of an Arabic interpreter.

During the interviews, she said Bouchaker was "smiling and calm" and that it seemed to her he "didn't have the capacity to understand the serious nature of the charges or the matters before the court."

She described Bouchaker as "blandly cheerful", with "inappropriate jocularity unwarranted by the circumstances."

The witness concluded that Bouchaker was unable to enter a plea and lacked the capacity to object to jurors, give evidence, follow evidence or be cross-examined.

However, in March this year, Mr Justice Hunt found that Bouchaker was fit to stand trial.

He said that, despite Bouchaker's cognitive limitations, he could be accommodated and was capable of mounting a defence and understanding the nature of the charges against him.