The suspect for the frenzied attack on kids in a Dublin crèche was in court on a knife charge just five months ago, it has emerged.
And, as gardai continue their probe into Thursday’s attack that left a five-year-old girl fighting for her life, sources have told The Irish Mirror that investigators now suspect he deliberately targeted the school. It’s understood detectives have established he loitered around a back gate to Gaelscoil Cholaiste Mhuire on Dublin ’s Parnell Square East for around 10 minutes on Thursday – and then to the front and carried out his shocking attack.
Sources told us he watched as a group of children aged around five lined up at the entrance to the school – before pouncing. He watched them for about a minute before stabbing a five-year-old girl – and then attacking a school worker who went to save her.
Read more: Principal of Gaelscoil Cholaiste Mhuire asks for privacy after shock stabbing
Read more: Mum whose family witnessed Parnell Square stabbing fears kids will 'never un-see' horror attack
He then turned to attack two more kids before he was overpowered by several passersby. The five-year-old girl was critically ill in Dublin's Temple Street Hospital last night - and the school worker who tried to save the kids was also in a serious condition in another site.
Two other kids, a girl aged six and a boy aged five, were less seriously injured. The girl was still in hospital last night, but the boy had been discharged.
As soon as the suspect is medically fit, sources have said that detectives from Store Street would arrest him on suspicion of the attempted murder of five people. Gardai made a fresh appeal for witnesses or anyone with footage of the incident to come forward.
A spokesman said: "An Garda Síochána is appealing to any person with any information on this attack to contact investigating Gardaí. Investigating Gardaí are also appealing to any person who may have mobile phone footage of the attack or the immediate aftermath to make this footage available to An Garda Síochána.
"Anyone with information is asked to contact Mountjoy Garda Station 01 666 8600 the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station."
Gardai are still trying to establish a motive for the horror attack but sources said they do not suspect a terror link. Instead, they believe at this stage the suspect had serious mental health issues.
We have also established that a family member of the suspect contacted gardai hours after Thursday’s attack to tell them he had been a normal man until he suffered a brain tumour two years ago. The frantic family member said the man started to suffer from acute mental health problems after the brain tumour – and his life spiralled out of control.
We have learned that the suspect, who is a naturalised Irish citizen who was born and bred in Algeria and came to Ireland around 20 years ago, has no criminal convictions – but had faced prosecution in May. Sources have told us he was charged with one count of possessing a knife and another of criminal damage to a car following an incident in central Dublin in April.
He appeared in Dublin District Court at the city’s CCJ in May. The judge in the case heard all the evidence, but made no order. That means the suspect was not convicted of any offence.
A no-order decision is usually made when a judge rules that there was a significant mental health aspect to the case. The man is now at the centre of a huge Garda investigation – and officers are checking all aspects of his background, but have failed to find anything that would hint at a terrorism motive, sources say.
"He was not connected to anyone there – it was a complete stranger attack. He had no history with the school at all," a source said. Nor did he know any of the kids – he could have attacked any of them."
The suspect lived at an address in inner city Dublin and gardai searched that property yesterday for clues. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar yesterday revealed that officers had seized a mobile phone and a laptop connected to the suspect – both of which were now being examined for any clues.
Mr Varadkar said that the attacker, who is currently in hospital, was "intent on murder".
"The person who carried out his attack was intent on murder, that is clear,” he said. "We don’t know their motivations. Gardaí have identified the suspect's dwelling, have his computers, have his phone and will be able to assess that in the coming days.
"I don't want to speculate on possible motivations at this stage, but absolutely nothing is ruled out in that regard. I really want to thank the people on the street who intervened.
"It's hard to believe that this could have been worse had they not done so. Let’s not forget that those who intervened were not just from Ireland. They're from other countries as well."
Mr Varadkar said that people should not be afraid to go to Dublin city this weekend to show rioters that "the city belongs to us and not to them".
He said that a large amount of CCTV footage was gathered on Thursday evening and that the Government is "bringing through legislation" in relation to these cameras as "it's important that we're able to use modern technologies to go through that and go through it quickly". He said this will be done in the next number of weeks.
Mr Varadkar said that while he was happy with the policing approach, a "full review of events" will be carried out to "find out what can be done better".
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