One year on, mum says of little girl stabbed in Parnell Square: 'She has made great progress'
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The mother of the little girl who was left fighting for her life after a knife attack in Dublin city centre last year has said her daughter is “strong and is really trying”.
Today marks the one-year anniversary of the terrifying ordeal that saw three children and a creche worker injured at lunchtime during rush-hour traffic on Parnell St on November 23, 2023.
Riad Bouchaker, 50, who has no fixed abode, has since been charged with the attack
The girl, who recently marked her sixth birthday, was left with life-changing injuries and spent most of the past year in Temple Street Children’s Hospital but has since moved to the National Rehabilitation Centre.
After the attack, Dublin city centre quickly descended into violence, as rioters burned, looted, and destroyed.
The child’s mother, who cannot be named to protect the identity of her daughter, said: “This week is better than last week, leading to the anniversary.”
The brave mother moved to Ireland several years ago, got married, and gave birth to her only child here.
She has remained by her daughter’s bedside along with her husband and the child’s grandmother since their lives were turned upside down.
However, she said she holds no anger or hate over the attack and instead is trying to “move forward”.
“Right now, we are OK,” she said. “We have to wait, one year down. Next year, for sure, will be different.
"We have to live in the now, in the moment.”
She also thanked the hospital, staff, and all those around her, including family and friends, as well as the public for their continued support.
“The supports are great and help us get through,” she said. “Moving forward, once we are home, we will adapt once again.
“There is no certainty. Our daughter is strong and really trying. We need to be patient, no matter how much we would like to know what tomorrow holds.”
She understands that the public has held her daughter in their prayers and are keen to be updated on the child’s progress.
With that in mind, she began updating a GoFundMe page called Barróg do Chailín Beag (A Hug For A Little Girl), which was set up by Róisín Fitzgerald and has so far raised €117,764 for the little girl and her family. She wrote:
“Don’t get me wrong, I experience at least a dozen different emotions throughout the day as I think of her, pass by some spot in town which held significance to us, sing ‘All My Loving’ to get a smile out of her. It is tough.
“So much has happened and our little girl has endured so much, yet she still manages to bolster a smile, even when crying.
“Me and my husband have had to relearn how to be a parent.
“It is different parenting altogether. And she has had to relearn being a child, with extreme limitations.”
She added: “We strongly believe, despite medical assessments and reports, that she understands everything we say to her. She, like most six-year-olds, chooses what she wishes to acknowledge.
“She has made great progress and we don’t wish her to stop. Only time will truly tell. Some people with acquired brain injuries have still shown change and improvement up to 10 years later. We’ve got time.”
In May this year, the mother gave her first interview to the 'Irish Examiner' and said the riots that followed were not in her little girl’s name.
“We don’t want any hate over this, and that hate only generates more hate,” she said.