Stephen Ogilvie, 44, remained in a coma on Wednesday night after losing his left eye and suffering deep injuries to his face, neck and back in what his family described as an “unprovoked attack” on Monday evening in north Belfast. The disabled man, who has schizophrenia, had left his apartment on Kinnaird Avenue after reportedly spotting a man walking back and forth on the street for a considerable time. He is thought to have asked, “What are you doing?” — and was immediately set upon with a knife, pinned to the ground and repeatedly stabbed in the head, according to footage too graphic to publish.
Passers-by intervened. Maitiu Mag Tighearnan was filmed striking the alleged attacker three times about the head with a hurling stick. Two other men also helped. The Ogilvie family said: “Your quick actions absolutely saved his life, and we will never forget what you did for him in that moment.”
“Stephen Ogilvie lost an eye and is in a coma; his family condemn second night of violent protests.”
Police arrived and arrested Hadi Alodid, 30, of Duncairn Avenue, Belfast. Appearing at Laganside magistrates’ court by videolink on Wednesday, Alodid refused legal representation and made no reply to charges — attempted murder, possession of a knife, and threatening to kill an NHS radiographer — which were put to him through an Arabic interpreter. The court heard he had been taken to hospital with suspected hand injuries where he allegedly told a radiographer: “I’ll kill you.” Alodid was remanded in custody for four weeks, with the court warned that granting bail would trigger “significant public disorder”. He is due to appear again on 8 July.
But the violence had already spread. On Tuesday night, masked protesters set fire to homes, a bus and police cars in Belfast, leaving 27 people homeless, according to Cabinet Office minister Baroness Anderson, who told the House of Lords they had been targeted “door-to-door” by people trying to “burn them out of their homes”. On Wednesday night, a second night of disorder erupted. Police deployed water cannon on protesters in Co Antrim after around 200 masked youths attempted to march on a migrant hotel in Newtownabbey. Bricks were hurled, petrol bombs thrown, and a large department for infrastructure vehicle was set alight near the Sandyknowes roundabout. Rioters also tried to set fire to a property next to a petrol station.
The Ogilvie family issued a statement expressing their “disgust” at the unrest. “We have been left feeling disgusted by the scenes that unfolded yesterday across Northern Ireland in the wake of what happened. We want to make it absolutely clear that to do this in response is not supported by our family, and peaceful protest is only ever the way forward.”
Keir Starmer vowed to “crack down on anyone who is fuelling this division”, while the communications regulator Ofcom contacted social media platform X over online content potentially linked to the violence. Elon Musk rejected claims he was to blame.
Meanwhile, the terrorism watchdog Jonathan Hall said violence by newly arrived migrants meant immigration should be treated as a national security threat. And the Daily Mail reported that the UK had returned a single migrant to Ireland after they crossed the border, amid warnings the Common Travel Area was being abused.
Alodid, a Sudanese man who came to the UK using an asylum loophole, remains in custody. The city braced for more unrest.