Woman who saved Dublin knife suspect has tragic connection to previous disaster

24 November 2023 , 11:55

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Siobhan Kearney was one of two women to form a ring around the attacker so they could wait for paramedics to arrive (Image: RTE)

The woman who saved the life of the man who allegedly carried out a knife attack on schoolchildren in Dublin yesterday had a heartbreaking connection to a previous tragedy.

Just after lunchtime yesterday, an alleged knifeman went on a rampage at a school in Parnell Square in the centre of the Irish capital, but was tackled to the ground by two brave passersby who held him down. As he lay on the ground with visible injuries, two women formed a ring around him as ambulance personnel and the Dublin Fire Brigade made their way to the scene.

Shocking footage of the aftermath of the attack has been shared widely on social media. It shows an injured child being treated and a pink school bag laying nearby, just yards away from the suspect. A little five-year-old girl is fighting for her life in Temple Street Hospital where she was in a critical condition last night. It’s understood that she underwent surgery, having received a stab wound to her chest.

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A burned out bus is removed from O'Connell Street in Dublin (PA)

A boy aged five and a six-year-old girl were taken to Crumlin Children’s Hospital with less serious injuries. The boy was discharged yesterday evening. The creche worker was being treated at the Mater Hospital for serious injuries.

Baby boy has spent his life in hospital as doctors are 'scared' to discharge him

The suspect, aged in his 50s, was arrested at the scene but his period of detention was suspended as he was taken to hospital for treatment. Investigators will now have to wait for the go-ahead from medics, who are treating him for “serious injuries”, to take him from hospital to a Garda station to question him, reports the Irish Mirror.

Gardai and members of the public gather near the site of the stabbing (PA)

The Irish Mirror reports the Algerian man has lived in the country for a number of years and is now an Irish national. Siobhan Kearney was one of the two women who formed a ring around the man as they waited for the gardai to arrive. Ms Kearney is a sister of Liam Dunne who died in Stardust nightclub disaster in 1981. She had attended the inquests into the tragedy nearby before she witnessed the attack.

The knifeman's attack sparked a riot in Dublin last night (AFP via Getty Images)

Ms Kearney said: “So I flew across the road. And we got the children up to the left with the women that was there and the teachers I presume. People were trying to attack the man so me and an American lady, we formed a ring around the man. And about three minutes later the ambulance came for the children and then another ambulance and fire officers came for the man on the ground.”

Ryan Fahey