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Accident – Death – Obituary News : Gardaí have expressed serious concern following the circulation of a photograph and other details of an innocent man on social media, falsely claiming that he is the suspect for the recent stabbing attack outside a Dublin school. The attack, which occurred last Thursday, left three children and a creche worker injured. The incorrect identification of the suspect came after online news outlet Gript published an article blaming the wrong man for the stabbing. Gript has since removed the article after being contacted by the police.
Several social media posts, which emerged overnight, featured an image of an individual and referenced details from a court case supposedly involving the stabbing suspect. However, the court case actually pertained to an entirely different person. It is important to note that the man named in the social media posts has no connection to the tragic incident that took place last week.
The actual suspect for the attack is an Algerian national who holds Irish citizenship. He is currently in the hospital and has not yet been arrested. Once he is deemed medically fit, it is expected that he will be questioned by the police before the end of this week.
Since the posts were shared online, they have been widely circulated, with thousands of shares overnight. One of the accounts responsible for sharing the wrong person’s details is linked to an individual who is currently under investigation by detectives in relation to the violent scenes that occurred in Dublin last week.
Gardaí have confirmed that they have been in contact with Gript, the online news outlet that published the erroneous article. The article, which contained highly inaccurate information, did not name the falsely identified Algerian man but revealed details about his immigration case ruling, which is available on legal websites and includes his name. This allowed right-wing agitators to identify the Algerian man and share his image along with details of his work for an Irish company. The photograph of the wrongly identified man was sourced from an interview he had given about homeless services to a newspaper.
When questioned about the article, a spokesperson for the Gardaí stated, “This article is highly inaccurate. The individual referenced in the article is not a person of interest in the investigation into the knife attack of last Thursday. An Garda Síochána has contacted the online news outlet, and the outlet has agreed to remove the article. The online news outlet did not contact the Garda Press Office before publication. An Garda Síochána is aware of some social media posts resulting from the article that purport to identify the individual and has put in place measures to ensure the safety of the individual.”
Gript’s original tweet promoting the story has received over 755,000 views on X, formerly Twitter. Gript’s editor, John McGuirk, stated that as of 10:40 am this morning, he had not received any contact from the Gardaí regarding the article. However, this statement contradicted a later announcement on the outlet’s website, which confirmed that the police had indeed contacted Gript at 9 am today. McGuirk claimed that the article was based on information from Gardaí and official sources. He also mentioned that they did not contact the Garda Press Office before publishing the article, as the office does not typically comment on named individuals.
McGuirk referred to the situation as a possible deliberate act of sabotage, using the term “rat-f**king.” The information disclosed in the Gript story allowed right-wing agitators to identify the Algerian man falsely connected to the stabbing and share his image and details of his work for an Irish company. As a result, some right-wing websites have labeled staff members of an NGO that had assisted the wrongly identified Algerian man in his immigration case as “traitors” and “accessories to murder.”
The five-year-old girl who sustained critical injuries in the stabbing attack remains in grave condition in the hospital. The only suspect in the case, a 49-year-old Algerian man, is also still receiving treatment for head injuries in the hospital. However, his condition is said to be improving, and it is anticipated that he may be medically fit for questioning and subsequent arrest before the end of this week.
In a statement, Gript said, “This morning, just after 9 am, more than 17 hours after the story that appeared on this page on Gript.ie was published – and after media outlets elsewhere had first been informed – the Garda Press Office contacted Gript to say that the unnamed person referred to in the story that appeared at this link yesterday is not, in fact, a person of interest in the events of last Thursday. Gript Media’s original reporting was sourced from a member of An Garda Síochána. It was further cross-checked against publicly available records, and while the name of the suspect was not reported, that name was put to a senior official on the basis of an informal ‘cross-check’ before publication. Gript Media, like other media outlets, has a firm policy of never naming any individual suspected in relation to a criminal act until such time as that person has been charged with a crime, and confirming that there are no reporting restrictions in place. In this case, we kept to that policy while cross-checking our details with our sources in the usual way. We are investigating the circumstances of this error, including giving due consideration to the question of whether this media outlet was deliberately deceived by a senior official. If we determine that to have been the case, then our obligation to protect the anonymity of those sources will be considered forfeit.”.
