Death – Obituary – Accident and Crime News : Gardaí are deeply concerned over the spread of misinformation online after an innocent man was wrongly identified as the suspect in last week’s stabbing attack outside a Dublin school. Social media posts falsely claimed that the man, whose photograph and personal details were shared, was responsible for the attack that left three children and a creche worker injured. The misinformation stemmed from an article published by online news outlet Gript, which has since been removed from the internet after contact from the police. The article incorrectly blamed the wrong man for the stabbing.
The Algerian national with Irish citizenship who is believed to be the actual suspect remains hospitalized and is yet to be arrested. Gardaí have made contact with Gript, and the outlet has agreed to remove the article. The false identification of the innocent man in the social media posts has caused widespread sharing and outrage. One of the accounts linked to the posts is associated with an individual currently under investigation for the violent scenes in Dublin last week.
Gript’s article revealed details of the falsely identified Algerian man’s immigration case, allowing right-wing agitators to share his image and details of his work for an Irish company. These right-wing websites have since labeled staff working for an NGO that had assisted the wrongly identified man in his immigration case as “traitors” and “accessories to murder.”
The five-year-old girl who was critically injured in the stabbing attack remains in hospital in grave condition, while the suspect also remains hospitalized for treatment of head injuries. However, his condition is improving, and it is expected that he will be medically fit for arrest and questioning by the end of the week.
Gript’s editor, John McGuirk, initially claimed that he had received no contact from the police about the article. However, a later statement on the outlet’s website contradicted this, stating that the police had indeed contacted them. Gript has since stated that they are investigating the circumstances surrounding the error and whether they were deliberately deceived by a senior official.