Stephen Ogilvie, a Scottish man in his 40s, lost his left eye and suffered deep cuts to his head, face and back in a knife attack on Monday night – an assault so brutal that a passer-by beat the knifeman with a hurling stick to stop the bloodshed.
Maitiu Mag Tighearnan, a father visiting his partner on Kinnaird Avenue, stumbled upon the attack and struck the assailant five times on the head with a hurley. “I just landed there by chance,” he wrote on social media. Moments earlier, the attacker had repeatedly stabbed his victim. Two other men helped restrain the knifeman before police arrived. Aoife O’Reilly, Mag Tighearnan’s partner, described him as “very, very humble”, adding: “I couldn’t be prouder of Matt. This is my partner and the father of my child who stood in and hopefully saved a man’s life last night.”
“Family of Belfast stabbing victim Stephen Ogilvie condemn riots as hero with hurling stick is named.”
Hadi Alodid, a 30-year-old Sudanese man, appeared before Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday charged with attempted murder of Mr Ogilvie, threats to kill an NHS radiographer, and possession of a knife. The court heard Alodid told medical staff “I will kill you” and said “I’ve killed someone, I don’t know if they are dead” while being treated for a hand injury. District judge Stephen Keown refused bail, citing fears of “significant public disorder” due to “strong public feeling”, and warned anyone planning further disorder: “Be prepared to go to prison.”
The attack triggered widespread racist rioting across Belfast on Tuesday night. Mobs set homes, a bus and cars on fire, chanting “foreigners out”. A Glider bus was set alight in east Belfast, several cars were torched on Lendrick Street, and a police car was burned in Portadown. Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service officers rescued residents, including a two-month-old baby, from burning houses near the Ligoniel Road area.
Mr Ogilvie’s family condemned the violence, issuing a statement through DUP assembly member Phillip Brett: “We are aware of the tensions and talk of protests following this incident. We want to make it absolutely clear that overnight unrest is not welcome, and peaceful protest is the only way forward. We have many migrants who make a deeply valuable contribution to our country… We do not want this terrible tragedy to be used to divide people or fuel hostility.”
Police fear further violence. Translink suspended all bus services after 5pm and train departures after 6pm on Wednesday “due to expected protests”. Assistant chief constable Ryan Henderson urged the public to “remain calm, act responsibly, and avoid any activity that could place themselves or others at risk”. Irish premier Micheál Martin called the stabbing “savage”. Sir Keir Starmer praised the “members of the public who intervened”, while DUP politician Brian Kingston commended “other local residents who intervened and did what they could at risk to themselves”.
The judge’s warning now hangs over any who would take to the streets again: the courts “won’t tolerate” attacks on emergency services.