The jury has seen a second interview with Riad Bouchaker, following an alleged knife attack in Dublin’s Parnell Square. 

The 52-year-old has denied eight charges, all of which are alleged to have taken place in November 2023.

Some months after the alleged attack, Mr Bouchaker was taken to Mountjoy Garda Station where he was interviewed. 

After his first interview, he was given a break of an hour and a half and then brought back for a second interview, where he was cautioned and again reminded of his rights. 

On All Rise: The Riad Bouchaker Trial, Courts Correspondent Frank Greaney recounted what the jury heard when a video of the interview was shown to them. 

“When reminded that he had previously admitted doing something wrong, Mr Bouchaker told the detectives that he had become upset after receiving something, that he threw it away and then did something bad, but insisted he had not wanted to kill or harm the children,” he said. 

“He was shown various CCTV clips during his interviews and in one he acknowledged that an object in his hand was a knife.”

Mr Bouchaker told the Gardaí that it was a brand new knife he wanted to take back to Algeria. 

At the time, he was living in a hostel in the city centre and said he found it in his accommodation. 

Throughout the interviews, he said he had been applying for various social welfare supports but his applications for support had been rejected. 

He described how it made him feel unwelcome in Ireland, as if the country was telling him to leave. 

“He was then asked what happened next,” Mr Greaney recounted. 

“He said he just found himself shaking really bad and he said someone was speaking to him.

“He said he didn't have any conscience to go and hurt anybody. 

“He said he didn't know what happened, ‘I know I'm sick,’ he added.” 

At this point, Mr Bouchaker was shown the packaging for a knife, which Gardaí asked if he recognised. 

Mr Bouchaker said that he did not. 

“Afterwards he said, ‘Please guys kill me’, before adding that he was ready for whatever the injured girl's family wanted,” Mr Greaney said. 

“Later he was asked what he meant by that and which girl he was talking about; he said he had no idea.

“He was then shown a knife, he did recognise that; he said it was in the package when he had it.” 

Mr Bouchaker described himself as socially isolated, someone who had been in the country for nearly two decades but did not know anyone, only his brother. 

Over and over again, he returned to the social welfare issue. 

“He was then shown a CCTV clip, purporting to be the attack itself, a clip the jury has already seen and he was told to pay attention to the left hand side of the screen,” Mr Greaney continued. 

“A zoomed-in version was also played for him and after watching it Mr Bouchaker said he had never seen those children in his life. 

“‘It is an action of someone who was mental,’ he said.” 

When it was put to Mr Bouchaker that they were his actions, he said that such actions were not in his mind and that he had no brain in his head. 

Mr Bouchaker also thanked God that the children were still alive. 

The interview was terminated at 2.41 that afternoon, just after Mr Bouchaker was asked if he had anything to add. 

“He replied, ‘I know myself I was not in my right mind, I have never done anything of that sort in my life’,” Mr Greaney recounted.

Main image: Parnell Squar. Picture by: RollingNews.ie