Deliveroo Driver Ciao Benicio stopped the man who went on a stabbing spree in Dublin's city center.
Five people were injured during the incident; one adult male, one adult female and three children.
Benicio who was on his motorbike on Thursday afternoon, on a job, reveals how his first instint was to stop the attacker on Parnell Square East.
After seeing the attack, the 43-year-old Brazilian dismounted his bike, took off his helmet, and hit the attacker with it.
“I didn’t even make a decision, it was pure instinct, and it was all over in seconds. He fell to the ground, I didn’t see where knife went, and other people stepped in,” he told thejournal.ie.
“I have two kids myself, so I had to do something. I did what anyone would do. People were there but they couldn’t step in because he was armed, but I knew I could use my helmet as a weapon.”
Tonight, all of Benicio’s thoughts are on the five-year-old girl, who he saw brutally attacked, and her condition.
“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,” he said.
“If a child didn’t survive, I would always think, I could have been faster. I chose to have surgery on my knee recently, it made me slow to get off the bike, could I have been faster?
“If all the victims survive, I will be thankful that I was in the right place, at the right time,” he said.
The father of two was speaking after the high of stopping the attacker and says everything happened in a matter of seconds.
“I remember it all in flashes now. It was over in seconds it seemed,” he said.
Benicio came to Ireland for work after his restaurant burned down in Brazil. He hopes his children can come here one day.
He was saddened to see the chaos on Dublin’s streets tonight – with anti-immigrant sentiments being expressed by rioters and far-right actors.
“It looks like they hate immigrants. Well I am an immigrant, and I did what I could to try and save that little girl,” he said.
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