The 30-year-old Hadi Alonid, a Sudanese national who attacked a 40-year-old Scottish man with a knife in the northern Kinard Avenue area, threatening to slit his throat in the street, was remanded in custody yesterday after appearing via video link before a Belfast court, facing charges of attempted murder.
During the hearing it emerged that the victim, 40-year-old Steven Ogilvie, lost his left eye, suffered severe damage to his right eye and sustained deep wounds to his face and back. He is in a critical condition.
Alonid also faces charges of possessing a bladed weapon in a public place and making threats against the life of an NHS radiographer on the same day. He refused legal representation and did not respond to the charges read to him through an interpreter. The next hearing has been scheduled for 8 July.
Anti-immigration unrest
The attack, which was captured on video and widely shared on social media, triggered serious unrest in Belfast on Tuesday night. Masked protesters set fire to at least three homes, a bus and vehicles, while groups forced their way into houses shouting that they wanted to “drive out foreigners.”
Incidents were also reported in Portadown, Newtownabbey and Derry, while a Turkish barbershop was attacked in Ballyclare. Police in Northern Ireland confirmed arrests and urged the public to avoid affected areas.
“Outright thuggery”
Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill described the unrest as “outright thuggery,” saying that “groups of masked men throwing families out of their homes are nothing but disgusting cowardice.”
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the incidents “shocking and utterly unacceptable,” stressing that “it is clear that people were targeted because of who they are” and warning that “those responsible will feel the full force of the law.”
Judge Stephen Keown warned from the bench that anyone planning to take part in further unrest in Northern Ireland “should be prepared to go to prison.”
The family of Steven Ogilvie appealed for respect for their privacy and urged the public not to use the case to “divide people or fuel hostility.”
The attacker had arrived in Belfast in February 2023, travelling from Sudan via Paris and Dublin, and was granted refugee status the same year, with leave to remain until 2028.
Steven Ogilvie lived in the same social housing complex as the accused, and neighbours described him as a vulnerable man living alone.
In 2024, similar riots broke out in towns in England and in Belfast following a stabbing in Southport, with more than 1,800 arrests. The recurrence of this pattern – where a single criminal act becomes a trigger for organised anti-immigrant violence – is now a persistent concern for UK authorities.
