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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk. With Aviva Insurance.
Our Newstalk's courts correspondent Frank Graney joins us from the Central Criminal Court as the trial of Riyad Bouchakar continues today. And Frank, seven people gave evidence yesterday. All of them were civilian scene witnesses. And of those, three of them help restrain the person accused here. So we'll start with the evidence of Warren Donoghue. Talk us through what he said.
Yeah, this witness was actually commended by Riyadh Bhushikar's barrister for his bravery in what he did that day. He gave evidence of punching the accused man in the face.
Chapter 2: What evidence was presented by civilian witnesses in the trial of Riad Bouchaker?
The barrister representing Mr. Bhushikar said it was extraordinarily brave and he stressed that he had done nothing wrong by intervening, given the circumstances that were unfolding that afternoon. Mr. Donoghue said he was in Dublin city centre with his wife that day. their children, extended family members.
They were celebrating a daughter's birthday and walking near the Rotunda Hospital after having a bite to eat and along Parnell Square East where this alleged attack unfolded. He said he heard shouting and screaming. He initially thought it was some sort of an argument. When they turned the corner, he said he saw a man and a woman involved in a struggle.
He said he immediately ran toward them to intervene. As he got closer, He then realised children were involved. He said he saw a man with a knife, in his words, trying to cut up kids. He told the court that by the time he arrived on the scene, he believed at least one child had already been injured.
He said he saw children on the ground while the man waved a knife in his right hand, making what he demonstrated in court as downward striking motions. And he said he then hit this man a dig in the jaw. He was asked why he did that and he replied he had to be put down because of what he was doing. He told the jury the man fell to the ground.
Chapter 3: How did Warren Donoghue intervene during the alleged attack?
At that point, others also became involved, including a moped rider and another man. He said he struck this man again while he was on the ground. He was asked why he did that and he said he wanted to make sure that he didn't get back up
As I say, he was cross-examined and under cross-examination, he acknowledged that the accused had been armed with a knife and had every opportunity to kill or cause serious injury to the children.
And there was another eyewitness, a woman called Siobhan Carney, who took to the stand and she gave evidence of jumping on the accused. How did that come about?
Well, again, like Mr. Donoghue, she just happened to be at the scene by chance, an accidental witness who ended up intervening. She had been attending the Stardust disaster inquest, which was taking place at the nearby Rotunda Hospital. She explained to the court that her brother Liam died from injuries. He suffered in that fire back in the 1980s.
And during a break in proceedings at the inquest, she stepped outside for a cigarette. She was outside the Rotunda Hospital when she said she heard a scream from across the road. Again, Parnell Square East would be very close to the Rotunda Hospital for those unfamiliar with that part of Dublin city centre. She said her attention was drawn to a man holding a knife.
She explained that she works as a chef, so her eyes were instinctively following the weapon. She told the court she then saw the man stab a child. She reacted immediately. She said she ran across the road toward the scene, shouting that a man was stabbing children, trying to get other people's attention, urging people to get the kids out of the way.
She told the jury that in her view, by the time she had arrived, two children had already been stabbed and the man then lunged toward a third child. That was her evidence. And that particular part of her evidence was challenged under cross-examination.
But she said she was 98% certain that two children had been stabbed before he went for a third child, whom she believed suffered the worst injuries. She, as you say, Clare, described jumping on this man in an effort to bring him to the ground. And during the chaos that followed, she said the knife fell. She kicked it away. She directed another man to remove it from the immediate area. He did that.
Again, under cross-examination, she was shown a photograph of the knife recovered from a green area near the scene up by the Garden of Remembrance, and she said she was 100% sure it was the knife that she saw that day.
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