A 30-year-old Sudanese national was charged with attempted murder Tuesday after a video captured him stabbing a man in the head and neck on a north Belfast street. Police confirmed he entered the United Kingdom through Ireland’s Common Travel Area.
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said the suspect traveled from Sudan to Paris, flew to Dublin, then crossed into Northern Ireland by bus in February 2023. He claimed asylum and was granted refugee status by the UK Home Office in September 2023, a decision made under the then-Conservative government.
He also faces charges of possessing a bladed article and threats to kill and is due before Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
The victim was identified locally as Stephen Ogilvie, a Scottish man in his 40s, with serious injuries to his eyes, face, and back. PSNI Assistant Chief Constable (ACC) Ryan Henderson declared the attack a “critical incident” and said investigators found no terrorism evidence. “This brutal attack will have sent shock waves through the community,” Henderson said.
Violent protests erupted across Belfast Tuesday evening. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at multiple locations, torching a bus and vehicles. A building near Sandy Row caught fire, forcing an evacuation.
The Telegraph reported three houses were set ablaze in north Belfast, while a Middle Eastern supermarket was targeted in the south of the city. The PSNI has launched a robust investigation into the violence, warning that arrests will follow as detectives review CCTV and social media footage.
PSNI initially described the suspect as Somali before correcting the designation to Sudanese.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the initial stabbing as “sickening,” stating on X that he has “absolutely no tolerance for abhorrent scenes of violence like this on our streets.” Following the subsequent riots, Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill slammed the disorder as “outright thuggery” and “disgusting cowardice,” declaring that racism and intimidation are wrong wherever they occur.
Democratic Unionist Party leader Gavin Robinson called the attack “barbaric” and “medieval” and demanded the suspect be “convicted and deported on the first flight out on a one-way ticket.”
