Belfast knife suspect in court over attack and threat to kill NHS worker - as it emerges victim has lost his left eye
Sudanese suspect Hadi Alodid has been remanded in custody after being charged with the attempted stabbing murder of Stephen Ogilvie, threats to kill an NHS radiographer and possession of a knife.
A man stabbed in a Belfast knife attack has lost his left eye, a court heard today as the suspect was identified for the first time.
Listen to this article
Hadi Alodid was identified as he appeared at Belfast Magistrates' Court charged with attempted murder.
Alodid refused legal representation and made no reply to charges which were put put to him through an Arabic interpreter as he appeared in court charged with attempted murder, threatening to kill an NHS radiographer and with the possession of a knife.
The 30-year-old, with an address at Duncairn Avenue in Belfast, appeared before the city’s magistrates’ court on Wednesday morning.
He appeared in court via videolink and made no reply to the charges when they were put to him through the interpreter. He was remanded in custody.
The court heard today that Mr Ogilvie lost an eye in the attack. He remains in serious condition in hospital.
A detective told the court that the defendant said “I’ve killed someone, I don’t know if they are dead” while in hospital receiving treatment for a hand injury and told medical staff “I will kill you”.
She told the court that at 10.30pm on Monday police received report of a serious assault in the Kinnaird Avenue area.
She said they found the defendant armed with a knife at the scene and removed him from on top of the victim. She said the victim has lost his left eye, and has deep cuts to his head, face and back.
Belfast descended into chaos last night in the wake of the stabbing.
It sparked riots across the city, with cars, houses and buses set on fire as mobs took to the streets.
On Wednesday, PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher branded the unrest "self-harm against the incredible communities in Northern Ireland".
Adding: "We have to take a stand - please, no more".
Recounting the unrest overnight, one resident said: “I’ve heard Stephen was the victim. "What’s happened to him is absolutely horrendous and I’d never wish that on anybody.”
A post shared on Facebook by a resident also names Stephen as the victim.
He is thought to live in a first-floor flat in the area.
“Our shaggie You can make it ma man, whole world supporting you. Please show support my good friend would have helped anyone in a bad situation,” a post with Stephen’s picture reads.
Other locals have flooded the comment sections with kind messages wishing for the victim a speedy recovery.
“Praying for him and his family. no one and one's family should have to be subjected to this brutal attack. Hope he can get through this nightmare,” one user wrote.
The victim is thought to be from Scotland and had been living in the same block of flats as the alleged attacker, though no motive has emerged.
“He's a vulnerable person, apparently. He lives in the same flats as the man who attacked him. There's a lot of information swirling around as to what happened. Nobody knows for sure why Stephen was attacked,” a resident told the Daily Mail.
A neighbour said Stephen is “deaf in one ear” and “had a few issues.”
“He lived by himself, but he'd always have people around to stay. He was due to be transferred to another housing association flat on June 15”, they told the newspaper.
Police yesterday shared further details about the "barbaric" attack.
The suspect has leave to remain in the UK until 2028. He entered the UK in 2023 and was granted refugee status the same year.
After an anti-immigration riots in east Belfast, a Glider bus was set ablaze on Newtonards Road after hundreds descended on the city on Tuesday.
Masked males set commercial bins alight and pushed them into the bus before it burst into a huge inferno.
Speaking to LBC on Tuesday night, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson condemned the “utterly sickening and horrifying” attack in Belfast, but urged the public to remain “calm” and allow police to investigate.
She told Tonight with Andrew Marr the “worst possible response” to the attack would be “further violence or disorder”.
"There's no place for that kind of violence on our streets, and my thoughts are with the victim, but also with the first responders, with the members of the public who intervened to do all that they could to help."
The heroic Belfast dad who fought off the knifeman involved in the attack has been named as Maitiu Mág Tighearnán.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, he recalled hearing the attacker shouting "I'm going to kill him" as he approached.
A crowdfunder has been set up for Mr Tighearnán after he intervened while a victim in his 40s was being attacked in the Kinnaird Avenue of the Northern Irish capital on Monday night.
In video footage of his heroics, Mr Tighearnán is shown hitting the attacker with his hurl before he and others pull him off the victim.
He told the newspaper that on his way back from hurling practice with his son, he saw a car rapidly reverse as "if to get away".
After getting out of his car with a friend named Andre, they saw the attacker stabbing the man.
“The attacker was by now shouting and he said ‘I’m going to kill him, Wallahi, he’s dead’. And then he stabbed him in the eye.
“At this point I thought this was another Lee Rigby type of incident. I really thought someone was going to lose their life.”