Belfast hero describes fighting off knifeman with son's hurling stick

Maitiu Mág Tighearnán, who fought off the suspected knifeman, spoke to Good Morning Britain about what happened

A man who bravely intervened in the Belfast knife attack has denied his actions were heroic and said it was a “natural reaction” to rush to the victim’s aid.

Maitiu Mag Tighearnan, 32, had been in the car with with his friend Andre on Monday night, when the pair came across Stephen Ogilvy being brutally stabbed in the head and neck in the middle of the road in north Belfast.

The pair both jumped out of the vehicle to help, with Tighearnan grabbing his son’s hurling stick from the boot and using it to try stop the attacker from stabbing Ogilvy.

Footage of the attack showed Tighearnan swinging the stick at the knifeman alongside two other men before the police arrived at the scene.

“At the end of the day, there’s a man lying there. I just heard he’s being stabbed. There was blood everywhere, so the first thing is that man needs help,” Tighearnan told Good Morning Britain about the incident.

“It’s a natural reaction for what I feel is me, and most people who I know would also do the same from where we grew up. It was just that type of mentality.”

Suspect Hadi Alodid has been charged with attempted murder over the attack, as well as threats to kill an NHS radiographer and possession of a knife.

The stabbing happened in Belfast on Monday night / Credit: PA

The Sudanese national appeared before Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday morning and was remanded into custody until his next court appearance in four weeks.

Ogilvy lost his left eye and suffered other injuries in the attack, but is in a stable condition, his family have said.

A fundraising page set up by stranger Niall Donnan to buy Tighearnan a pint has attracted almost £30,000 in donations, which he said would be shared with Ogilvy and his family.

Northern Ireland has seen two nights of unrest following the attack, with multiple people arrested and several officers injured.

Police used water cannons on rioters and officers were pelted with bricks and petrol bombs in Co Antrim, on the outskirts of Belfast, on Wednesday evening.

Protests have erupted in Belfast, leading to multiple arrests / Credit: PA

Tighearnan said he knew of a family in his area whose shop of 15 or 20 years had been destroyed in the protests.

“Everybody is entitled to their right of opinion and their right to protest (…) but when it turns violent, then you lose sight of the protest and what it stands for,” he told GMB.

“From what I sort of understood from speaking to the shop owners, they’ve been here 30 years. Their kids went to school here and still do, even their grandkids were born here.

“So what happened was, amongst everything that’s happening someone has seen someone of colour and that’s led to that.

“We have people in our society who contribute towards our economy, who contribute to our country. Attacking those people makes no sense, and then that is where the bad of the protests comes from.”