'Is she dead?' Mother breaks down in tears on opening day of Riad Bouchaker trial

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

The mother of a then five-year-old girl broke down in tears on Wednesday as she told a Central Criminal Court trial about the moment her child's creche owner phoned her to say her daughter had been stabbed in the chest on a Dublin street.

The mother, who cannot be named to protect her child's identity, later asked surgeons if her child was dead after they revealed she had suffered major blood loss from a stab wound to the heart.