Riad Bouchaker selected and intended to kill children in Parnell Square attack, court told

Man has pleaded not guilty to all charges on day one of trial that is expected to last up to five weeks

Items left on Parnell Square in November 2023. A man has appeared in court and denied attempting to murder three children and assaulting others who tried to intervene. File picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Riad Bouchaker took a knife and selected children, targeting their upper bodies with repeated stabbing movements as he attempted to murder them on a Dublin street three years ago, it has been alleged at the Central Criminal Court.

Prosecution counsel Karl Finnegan on Wednesday opened the trial of the 52-year-old defendant, who denies attempting to murder three children and assaulting others who tried to intervene. 

Mr Finnegan told the jury that the prosecution intends to prove that Mr Bouchaker was the person who carried a knife to Parnell Square in Dublin and attacked a group of children.

Counsel said the evidence will prove that when he attacked the children, he intended to kill them. While such an intention is "rarely proved by a person announcing it", Mr Finnegan said the jury could infer his intention from the weapon he used, where he directed the blows, how often the blows were delivered and from the surrounding circumstances.

He said the prosecution would ask the jury to consider the use of a knife, the selection of children, the targeting of their upper bodies, including the neck and chest areas, the repeated stabbing movements, and the fact that members of the public had to intervene.

Mr Finnegan said the jury would also hear from Mr Bouchaker's garda interviews that prior to the attacks, he said he was upset that a social welfare application had been refused. He said he was not in his right state of mind and told detectives he knew he did something but didn't know what and that he did not intend to harm or kill the children.

Mr Bouchaker, of no fixed address, is on trial at the Central Criminal Court charged with the attempted murder of two girls and one boy, and assault causing serious harm to a care worker, at Parnell Square East in Dublin City on November 23, 2023.

He is further charged with assaulting three other people and with producing a knife in a manner likely to intimidate another person.

He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and his trial before a jury of nine men and three women is expected to last up to five weeks.

Jury advised over media attention

Mr Finnegan told the jury that the case has attracted considerable media attention and it is likely that they will have seen and heard public commentary and television descriptions of what may have happened. He told the jury to put that "entirely out of your minds" and to decide the case solely on the evidence they see and hear in court.

He told them not to rely on media reports, social media, or public opinion or to be swayed by emotion, sympathy, or outrage.

Describing the events, Mr Finnegan said on the afternoon of November 23, 2023, a group of children had gathered on Parnell Square to be brought to a creche where they would be picked up by their parents. He said Mr Bouchaker approached the children, produced a knife, and began stabbing or attempting to stab them.

One of the children's carers noticed Mr Bouchaker and saw the knife, Mr Finnegan said. She will say that she grabbed Mr Bouchaker from behind and shouted at him to "get away" before realising she had also been stabbed.

Members of the public then intervened and removed the knife, Mr Finnegan said. When gardaí arrived, they found Mr Bouchaker lying on the ground and discovered the knife a short distance away.

Mr Finnegan said the medical evidence will show that one of the children, then five years old, suffered life-threatening injuries. A second child suffered a knife wound to the head and a third suffered an injury to the neck. 

Passers-by flagged down an ambulance that happened to be near the scene and when they assessed the first child they found she had no pulse, was not breathing, and had a large laceration on her chest. They began resuscitation until members of the Dublin Fire Brigade arrived and took over.

She was taken to Temple Street Children's Hospital where she required heart surgery, a blood transfusion, and intubation.

The trial, presided over by Mr Justice Tony Hunt, continues before the jury of nine men and three women.