News Story

A bloodstained jacket belonging to a childcare worker has been shown to a jury in the trial of a man accused of the attempted murder of three children in Dublin.

The Central Criminal Court in Dublin has heard multiple children and an adult were injured in the attack, including a girl who is now in a wheelchair and non-verbal.

Riad Bouchaker, aged 52 and of no fixed address, is charged with attempted murder of two girls and one boy, and assault causing serious harm to care worker Leanne Flynn, in Parnell Square East in Dublin City on November 23 2023.

Bouchaker is also charged with assaulting three other people, and with producing a 36cm kitchen knife.

He has pleaded not guilty to all eight charges.

On the third day of his trial in Dublin, the jury were shown further CCTV footage of the area before the attack and stills taken from CCTV from Dublin Bus.

The jury of three women and nine men also heard from a childcare assistant who helped Gardaí to identify the children in stills from the CCTV footage, a woman who was shopping in the area on that day, and a Dublin Bus driver.

Under questioning from Karl Finnegan SC, for the prosecution, Garda Niall Ormsby confirmed he took photos of the scene, including aerial photographs of the area.

The photos included one of the beige sleeveless jacket hanging on railings outside a nearby hotel, and of a black-handled knife on a green area, taken around an hour after the event.

A colleague of Mr Ormsby also took a photo of a navy rucksack believed to belong to the suspect, and a photo of packaging for a carving knife, located within that backpack.

Four exhibits were also shown to the jury, including a beige sleeveless coat belonging to Ms Flynn, which was found hanging on the railing outside a hotel in Parnell Square.

They were shown a black and navy child’s jacket, with fur on the hood, obtained from the reception of the same hotel.

They were also shown a pink and green unicorn schoolbag and a child’s black jacket, the latter of which appeared to be bloodstained, obtained from the ground floor toilet of a school.

Patricia Byrne, who was shopping near the Jervis Street area on that day, said she was walking towards second hand shops when she heard a man dressed in dark clothing who she said was being “in my opinion quite aggressive”.

She said she noticed he crossed in front of a person and said “shit Irish, shit f****** Irish”, before moving on and saying the same thing again to a group of people.

“I actually said ‘not funny’ to the group of people because they were laughing,” she told the court.

When shown CCTV footage of the Mary Street area, she identified herself as the woman in the top righthand corner of the screen dressed in black trousers and a pink jacket.

“At that stage the person was talking quite abusive,” she said.

“I’m looking back because the person was coming around the corner.”

David Corr, a Dublin Bus driver working out of the Broadstone bus depot, said he arrived in Parnell Square East at 12.45pm on November 23 2023, before his shift started.

He said he met a colleague there before he was approached by a man who asked him where the school was.

He said the man was dressed in a black shirt and had a “jet black” beard and hair.

“I gathered it was the one a couple of doors up,” he told the court.

He said he pointed up and said “it’s just up here, and my colleague probably said something to him about the location of the school”.

He said when he finished his shift, he saw the news about an incident in Parnell Square East and contacted the Gardaí.

“I told the Gardaí that I was approached by somebody who asked where the school was and, as I say, I thought it was peculiar.”

He identified himself on CCTV as the man in the orange hi-vis jacket, but said he could not be 100% sure he could see the man on the CCTV footage.

“To be honest, I thought my colleague was there as well when the guy approached me,” he said, adding that he had “no recollection of the guy I spoke to wearing a hat”.

The trial, under judge Mr Justice Tony Hunt, continues on Friday afternoon.