A man charged with attempting to murder three children has been declared fit to stand trial.
Riad Bouchaker is charged with the attempted murder of two girls and one boy in Dublin’s Parnell Square in 2023.
The 51-year-old, who is of no fixed abode, is also charged with assault causing serious harm to a care worker.
Bouchaker is further charged with three counts of assault causing harm, as well as the possession and production of a 36cm kitchen knife.
At the Central Criminal Court on Friday, Mr Justice Tony Hunt made a ruling on Bouchaker’s fitness to stand trial after considering medical and psychiatric evidence.
Bouchaker was present in court for the proceedings, which were translated for him by an Arabic interpreter.
Mr Justice Hunt said: “My finding is Riad Bouchaker is currently fit to stand trial.”
A five-year-old girl and a woman in her 30s were left in a critical condition in hospital after the attack near a school on 23 November 2023.
Two other young children, a five-year-old boy and six-year-old girl, were also injured.
The attack happened hours before a riot broke out in the centre of the capital.
A number of Garda vehicles were destroyed, while a tram and bus were set alight.
Public transport was suspended while shop windows were smashed, with protesters blocking a bridge with construction signs.
Appealing for calm, Irish justice minister Helen McEntee said: “The scenes we are witnessing this evening in our city centre cannot and will not be tolerated.
“A thuggish and manipulative element must not be allowed to use an appalling tragedy to wreak havoc.”
The clashes broke out a few hours after the knife attack, which happened outside to an Irish-medium primary school, Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire.
Labour Party senator Marie Sherlock said that children had been queuing for after-school care at the time of the attack.
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