Orla O'Donnell

Riad Bouchaker intended to murder three young children when he stabbed them near a crèche on Parnell Square in Dublin in 2023, targeting their upper body, head, neck and chest areas, the Central Criminal Court has heard.

A childcare worker has described how a man accused of the attempted murder of three children came at one of the children in a crouched motion and began ferociously stabbing her.

A man described as "extraordinarily brave", has told the Central Criminal Court he punched another man who was trying to cut little children with a knife on Parnell Square in November 2023, as he needed to be "put down".

A firefighter who was one of the first at the scene of the stabbings at Parnell Square in November 2023, has said he still remembers seeing a little girl's pink shoes and a woman with a huge injury to her back.

A doctor who was involved in treating the child who was most seriously injured in the stabbings at Parnell Square in November 2023, has said the little girl's heart was not beating and he thought she was dead.

52-year-old Riad Bouchaker is on trial at the Central Criminal Court charged with attempting to murder three children at Parnell Square in Dublin in November 2023.

Disruption to court hearings at all levels is expected to get worse in the coming days as solicitors escalate their action over payments for criminal legal aid work.

The man accused of attempting to murder three children at Parnell Square in Dublin in November 2023 told gardaí the children did nothing to deserve what had happened to them but that he was not in his right mind.

Gardaí accused Riad Bouchaker of going for the smallest children he could find and waiting for an opportunity when there were few adults around

A five-year-old girl who was stabbed in the heart on Parnell Square in Dublin almost three years ago has been left with a "life-long, life-limiting" severe disability, the Central Criminal Court has been told.