Care worker injured in Parnell Square stabbing discharged from hospital

Woman was escorting group of children outside a Gaelscoil when they were attacked by man wielding knife

Gardaí at the scene of a stabbing incident on Parnell Square East in Dublin. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins
Gardaí at the scene of a stabbing incident on Parnell Square East in Dublin. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins

The care worker who was stabbed outside a Gaelscoil in Dublin city centre last November has been discharged from hospital.

She was escorting a group of children on Parnell Square East when they were attacked by a man wielding a knife.

The woman, from Dublin, used her body as a shield in an attempt to protect the children, while also trying to disarm the attacker. After sustaining multiple stab wounds she was taken to the nearby Mater hospital, where she was placed in an induced coma.

The woman spent more than a week in intensive care in the Mater. She was then moved to a high-dependency unit and, later, to a regular ward. She was discharged from the hospital shortly before Christmas.

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Three of children in the group were injured in the attack at Coláiste Mhuire. They were treated in hospital and a boy and a girl were discharged later in November. A five-year-old girl wounded in the incident left intensive care shortly before Christmas.

The incident prompted a night of rioting in Dublin city centre.

Last month, a 50-year-old man was charged with the attempted murder of three children and with causing serious harm to the woman at Parnell Square on November 23rd last.

At Dublin District Court, Riad Bouchaker, of no fixed abode, was also charged with the possession and production of a weapon, a 36cm kitchen knife. He remains in custody and is to stand trial before a judge and jury.

A GoFundMe page launched to support victims of the attack was closed earlier this month after raising €268,254 out of a target of €500,000. Separate drives to raise money for the five-year-old girl and the care worker have raised €70,155 and €5,360, respectively.

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Paul Cullen

Paul Cullen

Paul Cullen is a former heath editor of The Irish Times.