Overview
- The Central Criminal Court, which ruled Friday, found 51-year-old Riad Bouchaker fit to enter a plea and face trial.
- Mr Justice Tony Hunt said the defence did not prove unfitness on the balance of probabilities and he found the prosecution psychiatrist more convincing because that opinion drew on Garda interview videos.
- The court accepted that Bouchaker has a serious neurocognitive disorder and will need supports such as simpler, repeated, or closed questions during hearings.
- He faces charges including the attempted murder of two girls and one boy, assault causing serious harm to a care worker, three further assaults, and producing a knife from the November 23, 2023 incident in Dublin.
- Prosecuting counsel Karl Finnegan said the Director of Public Prosecutions wants the earliest possible trial date and the judge said a date will be fixed as soon as the court can.