Child Knife Attack Plunges Ireland into GUBU territory

An exploration of Irish media manipulation

Reportage of the Parnell Street East stabbing two weeks ago has been the subject of much scrutiny. There are a number of elements that this Substack finds worthy of examination, beginning with the Brazilian Deliveroo driver.

A key witness to a heinous crime is platformed on national media within hours of an attack on a busy street in broad daylight. Under the circumstances, I find that unusual. At this point, Gardai could not possibly have comprehensively ruled out terrorism as a motive. The alleged knife wielding suspect was injured, had been arrested and removed to hospital. A side-scandal was unfolding on social media over his nationality. This in itself was unusual because at the initial press briefing hosted by Superintendent Liam Geraghty shortly after 5pm on Novemner 23, the question was asked:

Reporter: “Is he an Irish national?”

Supt Geraghty: “I’m not in a position to confirm the specific details of any individuals involved in this incident.”

A perpetrator’s nationality is of course relevant to any news story, particularly because the Ashling Murphy murder case concluded less than a week earlier. Her boyfriend, Ryan Casey, delivered a victim impact statement raising the most contentious issue in Ireland at present - welfare payments and associated provisions available to immigrants.

At 11.25pm on November 23 the Journal.ie published the following news story:

“I am praying, it’s all I am thinking of. I saw her in the ambulance, she looked so vulnerable, I had to go with Gardaí then. I am waiting for news about her. I am hoping,” Caio Benicio told the Journal.

Bizarre

It seemed unusual to this reporter that Mr Benicio, who’s evidence in any forthcoming criminal trial should be crucial, could speak so openly about the details of such a controversial case. Could this not be grounds for any defense team acting on behalf of the alleged suspect to seek a judicial review to stop a trial progressing?

In order for that to happen, the suspect would have to plead not guilty, which may seem unlikely, given the strength of evidence against him.

However, similar sentiments were expressed ahead of Josef Puska’s trial.

The suspect has not been charged, therefore papers can run what they wish.

A Breaking News report published at 2.28pm was updated at 5.45pm to include the following line:

“The force is also asking for anyone who may have footage of the attack, or the immediate aftermath of the incident, to make it available to investigating officers.”

It’s worth noting that in a video interview with Labour Party TD Marie Sherlock posted by reporter Eimer McCauley on her Twitter account at 3.48pm, the TD appeared to predict rioting.

“We are seeing a bit of a tense environment develop now in Parnell Square here unfortunately. Dark is only about an hour away and I suppose fears that it’s going to get a lot more ugly. They key focus has to be on the families, the injured themselves,” Deputy Sherlock said.

Events were fast-moving. Garda resources were seriously stretched. Within hours, the riots erupted. The following day, the Brazilian hero featured again as headline news on multiple media outlets.

“I saw the knife. I saw him stabbing her,” Benicio told a reporter for the national broadcaster.

Mr Benicio went on to give a detailed account of what he saw to Joe Duffy and the Liveline audience, including a description of the injury he saw inflicted on the little girl, which he said was a stab wound to the chest.

The previous day’s reporting on Independent.ie, described the injury inflicted upon the little girl, who remains critically ill, as a stab wound to the neck.

“It is understood that before she could intervene with the attacker he had stabbed a five-year-old girl in the neck,” that report states.

The difference between a stab wound to the neck and a stab wound to the chest is significant. Ashling Murphy sustained 11 stab wounds to her neck, a detail that only emerged publicly because her murderer, Josef Puska, pleaded not guilty and the case went forward for trial. Prior to that, two crime correspondents for the Irish Times had reported that Ashling Murphy had been strangled. No explanation for this anomaly has ever been offered.

In terms of managing public opinion, this Substack regards the timing and the message of the initial Journal.ie article as noteworthy. Riot police had only just regained control of the city, pictures of burning transport infrastructure in the capital were circulating widely, thousands had been affected by the closure of roads and shutting of public transport. The nation was in a state of shock.

“It looks like they hate immigrants. Well I am an immigrant, and I did what I could to try and save that little girl,” Benicio told the Journal reporter.

The following day the Brazilian Deliveroo driver conducted multiple media interviews, beginning early in the day on Morning Ireland. In the afternoon, Joe Duffy’s Liveline was dedicated fully to the rioting. The format of the show took the following form. First Duffy interviewed the driver of the burning bus on O’Connell Bridge, an iconic image that was circulated by this stage, around the world. Next up was a businessman, who owns a shop in the docklands area, lamenting about how his multi-cultural staff were too afraid to come to work. The show then featured Caio Benicio, who conducted a lengthy interview, outlining his part in the aftermath of the stabbing, his dealings with Gardai and the whereabouts of his motorcycle and helmet.

“I hit him badly on the head. He fell down. When I hit him I hit him with all of my power and he fell down straight away. He didn’t move at all.”

Mr Benicio said he and others continued to hit the man on the ground. Afterwards, he gave a statement to Gardai.

“I was in shock, I went to the Garda station, I had to go there to give a statement,” he said.

This Substack consulted a legal contact and a Garda contact on the matter of asking witnesses not to give media interviews in the midst of a live investigation. The legal contact considered these media interviews unusual. The garda contact considered this situation a ‘grey area’ given the lone suspect, the number of witnesses and the prevalence of social media.

Benicio described the five year old girl injured in the attack as ‘very pale’ and said she was removed from the scene by ambulance and that he continues to pray for her survival.

All of these key details to an investigation only 24 hours old at this point, were shared on RTE’s phone-in chat show and broadcast to the nation. These details remain available online, in the form of a podcast.

The Liveline conversation then moved to how Mr Benicio had (understandably) taken a sick day to recover from his ordeal but had time for little else besides media interviews. Listeners learned that he was self-employed and would not get paid for the sick day. At this point Duffy raised the Go Fund Me campaign to ‘buy him a pint’ for his heroism and informed Benicio that the fund had reached almost €50,000.

The fund eventually reached €700,000, while a similar fund for the child in hospital is hovering around the €45,000 mark. The sizeable difference can be considered proof of how successfully media messaging worked to shift focus away from injured child.

“Ciao, your helmet and your motorbike, the Gardai have that, do they? For forensics?”

“Yes they have. The Garda told me to pick up my motorcycle today and my helmet, I think that’s going to take a little while because they have to… I don’t know…”

“Yes forensics or whatever,” Duffy replied.

For his part, the bus driver, originally from Mauritius, told how he had stopped at a red light at the junction accessing O’Connell Bridge, when ‘a group of 15-year-olds’ approached the bus, acting ‘aggressively.’ Dublin Bus drivers had been called back to the depot not by the company, but by their worker’s union. The driver said the teenagers opened the front and middle doors from the outside and then boarded the bus and told him to get out or they would kill him. At this point, another, older man boarded the bus and waited for the driver to gather his belongings before escorting him across the street, where three Gardai were positioned. The driver said these Gardai were busy so he decided so walked onwards to Pearse Street where he boarded another bus back to the Ringsend depot.

Have you experienced much racism? Joe inquired of the driver, who has been living in Ireland for fifteen years.

“Not really. Ireland is a great country,” he said.

Unbelievable

It later emerged in a report from the Irish Times that the man who boarded the bus to escort the driver to safety was a firefighter from London. The report stated that Balal 'Billy' Hussain intervened as he thought the Mauritian driver was going to be “proper filled in” amidst the violent disorder. Hussain, was reportedly in Dublin for a concert at the Three Arena. The headline act was pop-star Anne Marie.

In the midst of riots, Hussain posed for a selfie behind the burning bus, producing a picture that featured some strategically placed graffiti and just one word: “Out!”

Did rioters come into town that evening armed with cans of black spray paint? Did they spray this message onto the back of the bus and include an exclamation mark, while setting the vehicle alight? This appears to be the message conveyed in the picture.

Thirty minutes into the Liveline programme the narrative diverted away from the burning bus to hear from ‘Declan,’ who runs a business in the docklands. He told Joe his staff are mostly Brazilian, European and Irish and that they were ‘too terrified to come to work because of the colour of their skin.’ Here began the obfuscation between migrant workers and the uncontrolled arrival of people seeking asylum.

“To be honest Joe I don’t know when I can reopen because if I don’t have the staff I won’t be able to reopen the shop again.”

Declan then blamed social media companies, telling Duffy, “Social media have an awful lot to answer for here.”

Duffy replied:

“The thing is, Google, Facebook and Twitter - and we are very grateful - they are the foundation of the current economic model in Ireland in terms of why they come here and the corporation tax and the brilliant staff they get but on the other hand, their own self-regulation…we find it very difficult even to communicate with them.”

Declan then made an interesting statement by way of reply.

“A lot of these companies that are here Joe, a lot of those employees are clients of mine, I would not be surprised to see a mass exodus from this country of these people going to safer cities and it’s all over then, the show is over.”

Unprecedented

On the Monday following the Parnell St stabbings, TD’s, Senators, trade unionists, and the NGO classes ‘stood in solidarity’ with the capital city. The rally was platformed by the state broadcaster from early morning, as AA Roadwatch staff warned of road closures and diversions in place around government buildings. The trade union organised rally in ‘solidarity’ with ‘workers’ was flagged on Morning Ireland with an interview segment and again on the News at One, with a reporter at the scene.

In her report for the lunchtime news, Laura Fletcher relayed the following:

“The rally heard how migrant workers contribute so much to Ireland and how we needed them and the theme really was that Dublin should be a safe place for people who operate businesses here...”

“In addition to that, also, a lot of people spoke about the victims of the attack on Parnell Square, how their thoughts were with the victims, those three children and the care worker who experienced that and also to the front line services who were taking care of them, the ambulance staff, the nurses and doctors caring of them and also the Gardai.”

The knife attack itself, inflicted upon little children on a busy street in broad daylight, did not warrant a mention. It was alluded to only through the use of the word ‘that.’ The injured children, including the schoolgirl whom we are told is fighting for her life in a hospital 800 metres away, relegated to the same level of significance as those taking care of her.

Did the state broadcaster, or any media outlet, send a reporter to the school gates? Might it have been helpful to air the concerns of the parents dropping their children at the scene of such horrifying tragedy? Neither happened. Previously, this would have been considered a normal follow up to a horrifying story of national importance.

Is it because we must accept attacks on women and children by immigrants on welfare as collateral damage for corporate interests? It’s certainly looking that way.

The ‘far-right’ is to blame for the riots, but up until today there has no definition of the term. Previously, it appeared to encapsulate anyone that dares to question Ireland’s wildly unpopular open-borders immigration policy. This evening, Justice Minister Helen McEntee will surely receive a sizeable rap on the knuckles for her -frankly comical - answer to a question put to her by Senator Sharon Keoghan during a hearing of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice on the meaning of ‘far right’.

“It’s obviously a political ideology or it’s a particular view that a person has,” the Minister said, adding: “I’m not sure there is a definition.”

Pressed for a definition of the term ‘far-right’ by Senator Keoghan, the Minister said it was a political ideology that she considered included people who see themselves as anti-Government, anti-State, anti-immigration and anti-women's rights.

This query was put to to An Taoiseach’s office after his use of the term in October 2022. It received no reply.

This a significant step toward clarity, for politicians, reporters and talking heads so fond of the term for which there was no definition - an important and deliberate policy by which to demonise those that questioned Ireland’s open borders. Use of the term allowed the government, media and NGO classes to quash any and all logical, rational debate of the pros and cons of such a policy and the obvious knock-on effects on housing, health, infrastructure and social cohesion. Precious little local engagement with affected communities has taken place and there is no mention anywhere in officialdom of the immigration opt-out clause inserted in the Lisbon Treaty, for Ireland, the UK and Denmark. Is it a coincidence then, that there is no clear definition of ‘hate’ in the Hate Speech bill?

Meanwhile, Christmas is cancelled, according to Fáilte Ireland, but no explanation is offered. Are the Dublin traders aware?

This begs the question, where were all these corporate interests, trade unions, politicians and media when businesses were shuttered during covid? They were backing it to the hilt, as young people with nowhere to socialise were turfed onto the streets. There was no mention of water canons to disperse those young people. Their middle class parents would never stand for such a preposterous suggestion. Yet, these people whom the Dublin Bus driver described as teenagers, were denounced as ‘thugs and scumbags’ by none other than Minister McEntee. Looting a sports shop for a pair of runners is obviously criminal, but at least there are laws in place for the crime of theft. Yet, looting the public purse to pay for accommodation, meals, welfare and legal representation to facilitate a bizarre open borders policy at the behest of EU overlords appears to be perfectly acceptable.

Worryingly, we are witnessing in real-time, the government and opposition, NGO class and trade unions, left-leaning activists and elements of the media, using the Parnell St attack to demonise those they disagree with. That is because, within the space of a week, everything those concerned about uncontrolled immigration warned about repeatedly, came to fruition in the culmination of the Ashling Murphy murder trial, followed by the November 23 knife attack, perpetrated allegedly by an Algerian immigrant who reportedly fought a deportation order in the courts.

Let’s not forget that on the Monday of that dramatic and fateful week in Irish media history, a farcical report on the ‘rise of the far-right’ and ‘misinformation’ by the Institute of Strategic Dialogue was given blanket coverage across all media outlets. This is not a story that sells newspapers. It is simply evidence of a captured media attempting to manipulate public opinion. Because there’s a terrible truth emerging, that those that spoke up against open borders immigration and were derided as ‘far right’ for doing so, were correct to be concerned. Green Party member Hazel Chu maintains that ‘unity’ is required of reporters. But the continuance of incredibly unpopular government policy is not the function of journalism. Reporters are tasked with divulging facts. If that creates problems, then surely that is indicative of a wider issue to be explored by the media?

As the week’s events continued, a bizarre story emerged from Limerick City and County Council, whereby Muslim councillor Azad Talukder, addressed the chamber and called for rioters to be ‘shot in the head.’ An incitement to hatred if there ever was one? The article appeared on the front of the Limerick Post and inside, the story confirmed that Cllr Taluker had withdrawn his remarks at the request of Labour Councillor Conor Sheehan.

“I hope that Conor Sheehan understands that is only an expression of my emotion,” he said.

The Irish Independent stepped in to further clarify that the application of Hate Speech laws may only apply in circumstances where emotions fit the prevailing government pitch.

Seven days after the horror knife attack in Dublin, Irish Times reporter Kitty Holland took to the BBC to air her views on the situation. It is worthwhile at this point to clarify one of the biggest and most devastating manipulations of public opinion by the government, media and NGO activist class in recent history. This monumental obfuscation of truth resulted in a change to Ireland’s abortion laws; something this Substack believes was required to be in enshrined in law in order for everything that followed to be achieved. This was a constitutional strike at the heart of the nation, that devalued all Irish life and therefore set the scene for what is unfolding around us today, in the form of the fallout from disastrous covid lockdown policy, excess deaths, active discrimination against native Irish people as government policy and now, the despicable efforts to divert attention away from the stabbing of small children on a city street.

Kitty Holland first broke the story that Savita Halappanavar died due to Ireland’s abortion laws on the front of the Irish Times. But this was not the case. Ms Halappanavar died due to medical misadventure after developing sepsis. When her husband took legal action, he sued the HSE and his deceased wife’s obstetrician. An inquest into the pregnant woman’s death returned a verdict of medical misadventure. The Irish Examiner published this report in September 2013 and in March 2016 the case was settled out of court in 2016 with a six figure sum paid out to her husband, Praveen Halappanaver.

“A separate inquiry found medics in the Galway hospital missed an early opportunity to terminate her pregnancy on health grounds and unacceptable clinical practice.”

The damage was done however, by the deliberate obfuscation of facts in favour of a pro-abortion narrative, that continues right up to the present day.

Grotesque

Holland was a guest on the BBC’s The View with presenter Mark Carruthers, to discuss the Dublin Riots, the ‘far right’ and the murder of Ashling Murphy.

Presenter Mark Carruthers read out a quote from the victim impact statement of Ryan Casey’s, the late Ashling Murphy’s boyfriend -

“We have to once and for all start putting the safety of not only Irish people but everybody in this country who works hard, pays taxes, raises families and overall contributes to society, first.”

“Those were very interesting comments weren’t they?” Carruthers said to Holland.

“Yeah I mean I think elements of them were not good frankly, I think they were incitement to hatred and I think that’s why the media left out aspects of them. This was an extremely heartbroken and devastated young man who has lost the partner of his life but the race and nationality of that man who perpetrated that awful violence on Ashling and murdered her is irrelevant.

“I can understand in the emotion and him feeling that and he is entitled to his views but I think the media has a responsibility to not report views that are incitement to hatred and he is being held up as a hero of the far right now.”

“Was it the right thing for media to overlook them in those circumstances? Was it an embarrassed overlooking of those comments do you think?” the presenter asked.

“I don’t think so, I think they were right to not include them. I don’t think that they were helpful. It’s the kind of thing, you know, that the far right latches onto, they latched onto the nationality of the man who attacked the children and you know, I’d love them to go down to the courts and report on all the white Irish men who are perpetrating violence on Irish and immigrant women, every day in the courts, they are not doing that. The problem here is violence against women and children its not the nationality of the people who are perpetrating it. The problem is misogyny and hatred and entitlement to inflict violence on women and children. It’s another related issue and ill in society but it has nothing to do with race,” Holland said.

The fact that the case judge that presided over this murder trial does not agree with Holland’s sentiments is inconvenient. Amid emotional scenes on that day of sentencing for the immigrant that killed the love of his life, Mr Justice Tony Hunt unreservedly backed the contents of Ryan Casey’s statement.

The judge described the victim impact statement and that of Ashling’s sister and mother as the most powerful he had ever heard in all his years on the bench.

Extract from Nicola Byrne’s report on the Ashling Murphy murder trial published in the Mail on Sunday, November 19.

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