The family of tragic Josh Dunne are considering a civil action over the fatal stabbing of the teenager.
Brazilian George Bento, 36, was found not guilty of murder this week after a lengthy trial in the Central Criminal Court.
He was also cleared of two charges of assault causing harm and of producing a knife in a manner likely to intimidate others.
Josh’s sister, Jade, 24, said the family are exploring whether it is possible to take a civil case over the boy who died on January 26, 2021.
Speaking last night, heartbroken Jade, 24 said the family will get legal advice on making a civil claim.
Jade told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “We are not interested in money, nothing will bring my brother back.
“This can’t be it. My brother is dead, he was stabbed twice. He was not the troublemaker.
“He was a very good boy, it’s just a devastating result for us.
“We feel Josh has been lost in all of this and there is a wrong narrative going around about him.
“He was not in a gang, he was a talented footballer, and he was going to be a star.
“He was not going down any wrong road, he would have been at training with St Kevin’s that night only for Covid.”
But she said with every positive message the family receives, there has been a “ton of hate mail”.
Jade added: “We have been receiving messages saying Josh was only from Ballymun in the northside.
“There’s a whole put down over his class, as if he was nothing.
“The Ballymun name keeps being brought into it.
“People are saying we are only working class, that he was black, and he shouldn’t have even been in the country and that we are to go home to our own country.
“Josh was born here, he was Irish. His father was from the Ivory Coast, but Josh was born and reared here.
“The amount of racism and hate mail is awful I have to keep deleting things.”
Josh was a talented footballer who had been to Dundee United for trials where he played against Leeds United.
She said: “He was in the Larkin school, on scholarship, he was going to school and playing football, that’s a football school.
“He played for Bohemians and St Kevin’s too.
“That’s all Josh wanted was football. He was a lovely child.”
Jade added that her mother Diane is “simply heartbroken” and that the hard-working mum-of-seven had been forced to give up her cleaning job after losing her son.
She said: “Only for my youngest sister and brother who are seven and five, my mother would probably give up.
“She’s just devastated, she is so lost without her child, anyone who has lost a child would know that.”
After walking free from the Criminal Courts of Justice on Tuesday Mr Bento hugged family and his legal team.
He told reporters he had said “sorry” and he hoped the Dunne family could forgive him one day.
Mr Bento was cleared of Josh’s murder this week after a jury found he acted in self defence when he stabbed Josh.
Meanwhile, his partner Cohelo Macedo said the Brazilian was planning to leave Ireland for good following the trial and that he was “very concerned” for his safety.
Ms Macedo said: “He doesn’t intend to stay in Ireland. He’s very concerned.
“Ireland is a lovely country. [But] we have seen some comments on social media that make us really worried.
“After all he just feels like being with his two kids at the moment, and his old parents.
“But at the end of the day we are trying to keep positive thoughts and hoping everything is going to be alright.
“We are glad we didn’t suffer any physical threat but we don’t know these people that are posting these violent comments online and he does not feel like waiting to see what they can do.”
Ms Macedo said Mr Bento didn’t wish to speak further “in respect of the pain that both families have been through” but she said justice had been served, and they are now relieved.
She added: “George has two small kids and a huge family in Brazil that misses him a lot, so now he is focusing all his time and energy with his family and friends and trying to start his life again and get over this trauma.”
She said he spent his first day of freedom “at home, talking with family and friends in Brazil. He was being really missed”.
The jury at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin cleared Mr Bento of murder, producing a knife in a manner to intimidate others and two assault causing harm raps.
They found that he was acting in self-defence after being attacked as he and a colleague tried to retrieve a stolen bike in East Wall, Dublin on January 26, 2021.
