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As we've heard, the man accused of assaulting a care worker and attempting to murder three
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children on Dublin's Parnell Square is fit to stand trial. That ruling was made this morning
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by the Central Criminal Court. 52-year-old Riyadh Bhuchakar is charged with the attempted
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murder of two boys and one girl and is also accused of assault causing serious harm to a care worker
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in November of 2023. We can get more now from our legal affairs correspondent Orla O'Donnell
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Orla, can you outline for us the events that brought us to this ruling today?
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Well, these proceedings arise from events at Parnell Square on the
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afternoon of November the 23rd, 2023 and a number of people were hurt outside a child care
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facility on Parnell Square. Riyadh Bhuchakar, as you say, is charged with the attempted murder of
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two girls and one boy as well as assault causing serious harm to a care worker and he's also charged
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with three counts of assault causing harm to two other young children and a passerby who tried
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to intervene as well as one count of the production of a knife. Now, earlier this year, the court heard
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expert evidence from two consultant forensic psychiatrists about Riyadh Bhuchakar's fitness to plead
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to these offenses. Mr. Justice Tony Hunt said the psychiatrist for the defense and for the prosecution
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both accepted he was suffering from a neurocognitive disorder and this arose from neurosurgery he had
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in 2021 and also a subsequent traumatic brain injury in 2023 but the experts differed on the
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effects of those deficits on his fitness to plead. The judge was saying that the defense
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argued that Mr. Bhuchakar could not understand the nature of the charges, the roles of people in
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the courtroom or the choices he had in his pleas and was unable to give coherent instructions to
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his lawyers. However, the prosecution argued that the defense evidence was overstated and the
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prosecution psychiatrist relied on interviews carried out by Gauri with Mr. Bhuchakar in the aftermath
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of the events and the prosecution argued that with appropriate support, Mr. Bhuchakar was fit
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to stand trial. Tell us then, Orla, about the ruling given this morning by Mr. Justice Tony Hunt.
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Well, Mr. Justice Hunt said expert evidence didn't automatically determine the outcome of a case
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and he noted that psychiatry was not an exact science. He said the decision was ultimately a
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matter for him with help from the experts and he said in an attempt to resolve what he called the
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conundrum of this conflict between the psychiatrists, he too had gone back and had viewed the footage
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of Riyadh Bhuchakar's garlic interviews. Now, he said it was a finely balanced case. He said both
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arguments had marriage but he found the evidence of the prosecution's expert which had been grounded
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in his viewing of Mr. Bhuchakar's interviews with Gauri to be more persuasive and he found that
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Mr. Bhuchakar was able to make a plea, that he was able to advance a possible defense, that he
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understood the evidence, that he understood the gravity of the conduct alleged against him.
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He said that Riyadh Bhuchakar undoubtedly had cognitive limitations and various accommodations would
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be necessary during the trial. This would involve perhaps more frequent breaks and less sensory
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overload in the court room, things like that but he said that did not equate to unfitness to
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stand trial and he said the defense had not proved on the balance of probabilities that Mr. Bhuchakar
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was not fit to plead. His view was that Mr. Bhuchakar was currently fit to stand trial and he said
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the matter would be kept under review as the trial progressed. Now, at that stage, prosecuting
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cancelled Carl Finnegan told the court that the director of public prosecutions was looking for
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the earliest possible trial date. This primarily due to the ages of those involved, the victims in this
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case and the court also heard that an interpreter and an Arabic-speaking intermediary would be
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needed for the trial. Judge Hunt said there was some urgency attached to this and he set a date
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of June the 8th for the trial to proceed and the case will be mentioned in court again in May.
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Orla thinks indeed for that our legal affairs correspondent Orla O'Donnell.