A brave Brazilian Deliveroo driver who stopped the knife attack outside a school on Parnell Square has described how he knocked the assailant by hitting him with his motorcycle helmet.
Caio Benicio, 43, is being hailed as a hero after managing to subdue the attacker who had injured three children and two adults outside Colaiste Mhuire on Parnell Square on Thursday afternoon, reports the Irish Mirror. In an audio message shared on WhatsApp, Mr Benicio said that he witnessed the attack while he was on his motorcycle.
“I saw the guy pulling the teacher, picking up the child. I stopped to see what was happening. I thought it was a normal fight,” he said, as reported by Otempo newspaper in Brazil.
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“Then the teacher pulled the child, the guy pulled another child and pulled a knife. A five-year-old child!” he said in the audio message, which has gone viral among the Brazilian community in Ireland.
“Man, I threw the bike on the ground and went after the guy. The guy stabbing the girl… I didn’t even think about it. I took my helmet off and hit… which knocked the guy down.
“I think I managed to knock the guy down with the helmet, I hit him in the head.” It’s understood that others then advanced on the attacker and were able to restrain him under gardaí arrived.
Mr Benicio also told The Journal that he has two children himself, and felt he “had to do something”. He said: “People were there but they couldn’t step in because he was armed, but I knew I could use my helmet as a weapon.”
He said his thoughts are with the five-year-old girl who was seriously injured in today’s attack.
“I am praying, it’s all I’m thinking of. I saw her in the ambulance, she looked so vulnerable, I had to go with gardai then.
"I am waiting for news about her. I am hoping,” he said.
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