Riad Bouchaker, 52, was convicted of the attempted murder of two girls, 5 and 6, and one boy, 5, in a horrific knife attack in Dublin that left a five-year-old disabled and sparked violent riots
A man has been found guilty of a string of horrific carving knife attacks that sparked riots across Dublin city and left one girl with a devastating, life-long brain injury.
Riad Bouchaker was convicted at the city’s Central Criminal Court on Wednesday of the attempted murder of a five-year-old girl who was stabbed in the heart, and the attempted murders of a five-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl.
The five-year-old girl is now non-verbal, uses a wheelchair and cannot swallow safely, requiring lifelong care, the court previously heard.
The three-week trial was told how Bouchaker, 52, launched his attack after becoming upset after he failed to secure social welfare payments.
He then went to the hostel where he was staying on Little Britain St in Dublin city centre and armed himself with a 36cm carving knife before making his way to Parnell Square and asking several people if they knew where a school was, the court heard.
Jurors were told how Bouchaker loitered in the area for an hour or so before spotting 13 primary school students aged five and six lining up as they prepared to be taken to an after-school creche.
He stood at a bus stop in front of the children for one minute and 40 seconds until the only other adult nearby was Leanne Flynn.
When Ms Flynn crouched down to zip up the coat of one of the children, Bouchaker removed the knife from a rucksack strapped to his chest. He moved quickly towards one little girl and stabbed her in the chest, causing a perforation to the right ventricle of her heart.
Ms Flynn dragged Bouchaker away but suffered a stab wound to her back as she did so. Bouchaker then continued his attack on the children until passers-by intervened and knocked or dragged him to the ground.
The then-five year old girl suffered brain damage due to blood loss and is now non-verbal, needs to use a wheelchair and will require lifelong care, the court previously heard. Another girl had an 8cm gash to the top of her head and lost a fragment of skull due to a wound to the back of her head. The other children suffered what were described as superficial wounds.
Ms Flynn required surgery to remove her spleen and to repair her diaphragm. She remained in hospital for one month.
Rioting broke out in the Irish capital in the wake of the stabbing, with vehicles set on fire, shops looted and infrastructure damaged.
The disorder, which began the evening of the attack after a crowd gathered at the edge of the crime scene in Parnell Square East, made international headlines.
Algerian national Riad Bouchaker has lived in Ireland for 25 years and is an Irish citizen. The court heard he had a mild cognitive impairment after complications arising from a craniotomy in 2021 that left a part of his brain exposed and vulnerable to force.
He suffered a further head injury when members of the public intervened during the knife attack on November 23 2023, which required him to receive hospital treatment for a month.
His defence team, who the judge ordered cannot be named due to safety concerns, said Bouchaker’s cognitive function, memory, concentration, communication and decision-making was affected as a result of the cognitive impairment.
Mr Justice Tony Hunt ruled Bouchaker was fit to stand trial in March, and said while he “undoubtedly had cognitive limitations” and would need accommodations, he added that the existence of those requirements did not equate to unfitness.
He has had an Arabic interpreter and a speech and language expert for the duration of the trial.
Through the interpreter, the defendant told detectives during an interview in December 2023 that the decision by the Department of Social Welfare made him feel like “this country is telling me to leave”.
Detectives had put it to Bouchaker during interviews that he demonstrated patience and restraint on November 23 2023 in finding a school, including asking people for directions and what time school finished.
They told him he had the “instinct” not to attack a group of older, taller children and went for “the smallest children you could find”, waiting for other pedestrians to pass until there was the least amount of adults and the most amount of children present in the time he stood there.
The prosecution argued that his specific targeting of smaller children and where he injured them – the chest, head and neck – was evidence of an intention to kill.
Bouchaker, of no fixed address, had denied the attempted murder of two girls, aged five and six, and one five-year-old boy, and assault causing serious harm to creche worker Leanne Flynn, at Parnell Square East in Dublin City on November 23rd, 2023.
He also denied assaulting two other children and then-teenager Alan Loren-Guille and producing a knife in a manner likely to intimidate.
Jurors voted unanimously to convict him on all eight counts, after deliberating for five hours over the course of two days.
The parents of the injured children and care worker Ms Flynn were among those who gave evidence during the trial, which lasted for over three weeks.
A sentence hearing is scheduled for Monday October 12, when victim impact statements are expected to be heard.
