Mr Justice Tony Hunt has heard a number of victim impact statements on behalf of those involved in the Parnell Square school stabbing, which took place on the 23rd of November 2023.
Justice Hunt indicated that he will sentence Riad Bouchaker on the 16th of November for the attempted murder of three small children, causing serious harm to their carer, Leanne Flynn, assault causing harm of two other small children and a 17-year-old French national, and production of a knife.
Detective Sergeant Padriag Cleary told the court that Bouchaker has not worked in Ireland and that, despite having family members here, was somewhat of a “loner”.
Counsel for Bouchaker told Justice Hunt that he was “working” off his client having come to Ireland in the year 2000.
Victim impact statements
Mother of Child A, the most grievously injured victim, read by Garda Shimna Ní Mháirtin.
The mother of the most seriously injured child, a girl who was aged five at the time, said the events of the 23rd of November 2023 “changed our lives into something unrecognisable”.
Describing how her daughter’s heart had been deprived of oxygen and blood for 40 mins, she said, “In a way, she died for 40 minutes”, saying that part of their family had died with her.
Before the attack, “She was thriving in all aspects” and could get dressed by herself.
She had a wide range of vocabulary and was “passionate about dancing, singing, and chatting” and “rarely sick”
Since the stabbing, she is “bound to a wheelchair”, has “gastric tubes”, needs to be dressed, “wears a nappy at all times”, requires medication four times a day, and takes sedatives to sleep at night.
The mother said that she “stopped working outside of the home” as her child is “more prone to getting sick”, has a number of “different appointments” and rehabilitation during the day, which means she cannot work a “9 to 5” anymore.
She described how her “income has reduced by half”.
The child’s father’s ability to work has also been negatively affected, as he suffers from “panic attacks” and “stress and anxiety,” the court heard.
“I have been going to therapy to deal with grief and loss,” she said.
“A child is forever,” the woman wrote, saying that before the attack she had expected that one day her daughter would become independent but will now need “24/7 care for the rest of our lives,” and, “we need to be sure she is taken care of after we are gone.”
“Learning about disability has been eye-opening, but I wouldn’t wish this on anyone,” she wrote.
Mum of Child C: “I’m thankful every day to Leanne.”
Detective Garda Damien Gildea read the statement of the mother of Child C, who suffered a cut to the back of her head.
The mother wrote, “When I dropped [name] off and kissed her goodbye and told her to have a good day, I never imagined how our lives would change.”
“It haunts me to this day,” she said, describing the “relief” she felt when she was reunited with the little girl at the hospital after the attack.
She described how the knife had “chipped the skull”, which needed to be stitched internally and how the child is left with a “scar and without hair growing on the back of her head.”
She said she was thankful that the scar is on the back of her daughter’s head, which means she can’t see it every day.
Speaking of the psychological effects of the incident, the mother described the girl “Freezing on the street when someone approached too quickly” and how she “can’t say” the words hospital or accident.
“She doesn’t speak about what happened” and “completely shut down and buried it all inside.”
The mother described the “fear” she feels “as nobody knows how deep this trauma goes” and that it is “inside her now for the rest of her life.”
“I’m thankful every day to Leanne,” she said, adding, “Our family’s lives could have been a very different story if Leana hadn’t done what she did,” the mother wrote.
“I should not have to be thankful that my child arrived home safely that day and feeling guilty because another mother’s child didn’t.”
“These children were picked out and targeted” to do the most “damage”, she wrote, adding that “This monster stole” their “innocence from them.”
“I say monster because that is what he is: He is the monster that haunts her nightmares,” she concluded.
Leanne Flynn: “A lot of people have called me a hero: I hate the word.”
The care worker, personally delivering her statement, said “My life changed drastically” and described the month she spent in hospital and the 18-month recovery period.
She said that although the court had heard the evidence related to the attack itself, it had not heard “How it has affected me psychologically, emotionally and mentally.”
She described undergoing “two life-saving surgeries”, and being in the ICU where “infections spread” and she developed pneumonia.
Flynn spoke of the impact her injuries have had on her family life and how she can no longer pick up her young daughter to lift “anything heavier than a school bag”.
She said she had to be resuscitated on the operating table and had a high temperature for three weeks while in hospital. She said that a fan was placed by her bed and ice packs were placed on her, but she never felt cool.
Her daughter was under four years old at the time and was not able to visit her mother for the whole month while she was in hospital; she added that this had caused separation anxiety in the child.
Flynn said she had to show her son her scars because he was afraid she was going to die. She said the child now attends a trauma expert and still will not go into the city centre. She described him sobbing, pleading and having panic attacks because he was so frightened to go anywhere.
She told the court her partner, Anthony, had to identify what appeared to be a lifeless body and watched her being wheeled into surgery without knowing whether she would return so the medical staff could: “Put me back together.”
She came home barely able to walk, and he helped her up the stairs. She said seeing her children, hugging them and smelling them was a comfort.
She described her recovery as slow. She was placed on antibiotics for more than two years and had to be re-vaccinated. Her vocal cords were damaged by a breathing tube, she said, adding that she takes tablets to help her digest food.
“My independence has been stripped away from me,” she said, asking, “Will I be able to do the work?” She said she felt unsafe for the first time in her life and had to get a car because “public transport is not an option.”
A lot of people have called me a hero: I hate that word,” she said.
“I hate that my name will forever be tied to Riad Bouchaker because I am more than that.”
“I hope that whatever God you believe in, he doesn’t forgive you because harming innocent children is unforgivable,” she said.
The mother of a five-year-old boy injured in the attack.
The mother of a five-year-old boy who suffered a cut across his chest as well as stab holes through the layers of his upper body clothing described how she took her son and his brother to a birthday party, where the children enjoyed cake and games in the sunshine. As she took him to the bathroom, he asked her, “Mama, is the bad man going to come to this party and try to kill us all?”
She said her son had been confused, telling her, “The bad man grabbed me, and he tried to tear my jumper with a knife.” Addressing the defendant directly, she said: “You attacked my son, my five-year-old son, with a knife.” She asked the court to think about how tiny he was then, and “how anyone could be so violent towards such small, defenceless children”.
“You traumatised and terrorised 13 children for your sick purposes,” she told Bouchaker, adding that she felt “fear” that he would ever “walk the streets of Ireland” again, and wishing that no other mother would have to feel the same way.
She described being “worried about what will happen when he is able to fully understand what you did to them.”
Recalling Bouchaker’s Garda interviews when he said he didn’t mean to kill anyone, she said she had, “Never heard such bullshit in all my life.”
“You grabbed him by his jumper,” she said, describing how Bouchaker had attacked her son with the knife.
She described him as doing this “because you were so entitled” and wanted “more”.
“If you had the chance you would do this all over again and worse,” she said, adding, “ I have such a fear that you will ever walk the streets of Ireland again.”
“Our children will be grown by the time you are out,” she said, adding, “I hope no other mother will ever have to hear her children tell them how the bad man tried to kill him.”
She said she and her partner “wake with a chill and a dread that the bad man will haunt the children’s dreams”. She worries about what will happen when her son fully understands what was done to him. “He was so small then, and he’s still so small now,” she said, adding that she does not know how it will affect him in future.
She spoke of guilt at feeling relief because not every mother was so fortunate.
She said she hoped no other mother would ever have to hear her child describe how the bad man tried to kill him.
“All those tiny, amazing, 13 children were so, so brave that day,” she said, thanking Leanne Flynn, Warren Donoghue, Alain Guille, and a number of others.
She also praised the “kindness and professionalism” of An Garda Síochána towards their families.
Finally addressing Bouchaker in Irish, she said, “You’re from Algeria, I’m from New York.”
She referred to his having said “Shit fucking Irish” on the day of the attack before telling him, “I love Ireland” and that her son “loves Ireland”.
“Is í Éire an tír is fearr ar domhan.” (Ireland is the best country in the world).
The mother of a girl, then aged six, who was attacked with the knife.
The mother of a little girl who was standing in the line during the attack and whose hair was cut by the knife, as well as being knocked to the ground, suffering a small cut behind her ear, and having her clothes cut described how the children had been chatting, smiling and giggling in the line, when Bouchaker attacked them.
“All she could hear was screaming and crying, and she worried about her friends and what would happen to them,” she said, describing how her daughter was able to give a detailed description of the accused.
The attack lasted “about 20 seconds”, but its effects have endured.
Her daughter does not want to talk about what happened, and her sister, who was also in the line but was not physically injured, stops people from talking about it around her. Both are in therapy, she said.
Her daughter cannot cope with the sight of blood, ambulances, sirens, loud noises or crowds. The family have had to abandon visits to busy areas, and the little girl wakes during the night looking for reassurance, she said.
The young girl described Bouchaker in the following terms: “He looked like a real man, but he was actually like a bad man,” the child said, adding that “that day was more worser (sic) than any bad days.”
Case background
Bouchaker is an Algerian who came to Ireland as an asylum seeker about 25 years ago, and was charged that on the 23rd of November 2023, outside a primary school in Parnell Square. Dublin 1, he attempted to murder a male child, attempted to murder two female children, and caused serious harm to a care worker.
He was also charged with assault causing harm in respect of another male child, assault causing harm in respect of a female child, assault causing harm in respect of a French national, and one count of production of a 36cm kitchen knife.
During his trial last June, Carl Finnegan SC, for the prosecution, told a jury of nine men and three women that the accused was “upset” about a social welfare refusal letter he had received when he got a knife and allegedly used it to injure the children, one of whom sustained a large laceration to her chest, causing her to need immediate surgery.
It was also heard that the child had no pulse when an emergency response worker, who was flagged down by members of the public, conducted an initial examination of her.
Another female child suffered head injuries, and “bone fragments” were found in her hair, Mr Finnegan said. He said that a male child suffered a laceration to his neck, and that care worker Leanne Flynn, who grabbed Bouchaker from behind when she saw him stabbing at the children, sustained a large laceration to her back and that she also needed surgery.
Two other children and a young French man, who intervened, were injured in the attack, with Mr Finnegan saying that Bouchaker had admitted that a knife found at the scene was his but that he did not want to “kill” anyone.
Bouchaker’s defence did not call any witnesses.
When all the evidence had been heard, Mr Justice Tony Hunt told the jury to be “logical” and “forensic” in their decision-making, emphasising the importance of a ” community-based process” which relies on “wisdom”, “common sense”, and “common values”.
He said he was “entirely happy with that process” and told the jury, “Do what you have to do in accordance with the law” and “decide now solely on the basis of the prosecution evidence”.
Mr Finnegan, supported by Carol Doherty BL, said that it could be said, “on all sides of the house here, that what you’ve heard is upsetting evidence”.
Jury shown CCTV of attack on children outside their school
Gardaí harvested 49 CCTV exhibits, which were compiled into a montage by Garda Ciarán Fury, showing Bouchaker’s movements before and during the attack.
At the end of the montage, the jury was shown the moment a man dressed in a black cap, black jacket, and blue jeans attacked the line of children at 1:45 pm.
The court heard that images were collected from the De Paul Hostel on Little Britain Street, ILAC centre, the Charles Stewart Hotel, Delfin Language School, Arisu Photo, Staycity Little Mary Street, SPAR O’Connell Street, Murray’s Bar and Grill, also on O’Connell Street, Cassidy’s Hotel, and Dublin Bus.
Mr Finnegan led the jury through the images from the first clip, which he said showed a male leaving a bedroom at the De Paul Hostel on Little Britain Street wearing a black cap and jacket, and blue jeans, carrying a backpack.
Bouchaker walks past Toymaster on Mary Street before entering the ILAC Centre, where he went to Dunnes Stores. There, the suspect visited a cafe where he met and sat with two other men for about two minutes.
CCTV showed him and one of the men he had been sitting with, his brother, before standing in front of lifts where they appeared to be going through “paper documents”, Mr Finnegan said.
A short time later, Bouchaker could be seen ripping up a piece of paper, which he then threw into an area where there was a Christmas tree in the centre of the ILAC complex.
He then went past Toymaster again towards Capel Street before returning to the De Paul Hostel and entering a room there.
A short time later, he emerged from the room with a backpack and a “wheeling suitcase”. He was wearing sunglasses and appeared to throw “shoes or runners” into a bin before leaving the hostel at 12:01.
At 12:17, he entered a building on 8-9 Talbot Street, where he had a number of interactions with males inside the building.
Mr Finnegan said that Bouchaker appeared to have “some discussions” over “perhaps the contents” of the bag, and that he appeared to have a key in his hand. A short time later, he spoke with a male in a blue jacket before leaving the building.
The male was caught on CCTV at Carroll’s on Talbot Street at 12:27 before he headed on in the direction of Parnell Street. At two points, Mr Finnegal said that the male appeared to have some interactions with passersby, with one of a group of males seeming to look back after he had passed by.
The male entered the rear grounds of the Delfin English school on Rutland Row before entering the building through the back door at approximately 12:36.
After the suspect exited the building, he walked up towards the direction of Gardiner Row before coming back and standing in the laneway, looking around and came back down the laneway towards Parnell Square.
At 12:47, he passed the rear of the Delfin school again towards Gardiner Row before entering the backyard for a second time. He looked towards the rear of the school where the attack took place.
Mr Finnegan said that the suspect then took “what appears to be an apple” from his backpack at 12:51 before he leaves the yard back to the laneway and “off campus”.
At 12:54, the suspect was seen outside the rear of Delfin near Rutland Place, walking towards Parnell Square, before he was seen walking to Parnell Square to the front entrance of the Delfin School.
At 12:59 to 1 pm, CCTV showed the suspect seemingly walking behind a line of children with his backpack held in front of him, Mr Finnegan said.
CCTV from Cassidy’s Hotel showed the suspect at the junction of Parnell Square and Rutland Place until 1:32 when he “walks” towards the school where the attack took place, the jury heard.
He stopped at a bus stop outside the school where CCTV from Dublin Bus showed him on front and rear cameras at 1:35 pm.
The suspect was then seen on CCTV from the Charles Stewart Hotel standing at the bus stop holding a backpack in front of him before he was “seen moving towards a group of children,” Mr Finnegan continued, adding that the male stood at the bus stop for one minute and 46 seconds before “moving towards the children”.
The final clip shown to the jury was a slow-motion, zoomed-in clip of the incident.