Pictured: Victim injured in ‘asylum seeker knife attack’ in Belfast

The man pinned down on a Belfast street by an asylum seeker who brutally attacked him with a knife has been named by residents as Stephen Ogilvie.

The alleged attacker, a 30-year-old Sudanese man, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder on Monday night and charged last night after the victim, in his 40s, suffered ‘significant injuries’ to his face, neck and back during the stabbing. 

Details of the horrific assault, which took place on Kinnaird Avenue in northern Belfast at around 10.30pm, were released after graphic footage of the attack was shared online.

The video shows a man standing astride a bloodied victim, holding a knife to his throat and his fist in the air. As onlookers screamed, he then started making a sawing motion as witnesses said: ‘He’s trying to cut his head off.’ Police said a kitchen knife was recovered from the scene. 

Mr Ogilvie is understood to be originally from Scotland and had been living in the same block of flats as his Sudanese-born attacker.

One woman told the Daily Mail: ‘He’s a vulnerable person, apparently. He lives in the same flats as the man who attacked him. There’s a lot of information swirling around as to what happened. Nobody knows for sure why Stephen was attacked.’

A neighbour of the victim added that he was ‘deaf in one ear’ and ‘had his window smashed by a drug addict who bricked his home last year in the early hours of the morning’.

The unnamed neighbour added: ‘Stephen had a few issues. He lived by himself, but he’d always have people around to stay. He was due to be transferred to another housing association flat on June 15.’ 

The man pinned down on a Belfast street by an asylum seeker who brutally attacked him with a knife has been named by residents as Stephen Ogilvie

The alleged attacker, a 30-year-old Sudanese man, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder on Monday night and charged last night after the victim suffered ‘significant injuries’ to his face, neck and back during the stabbing 

‘I looked out last night and saw what I thought were two men fighting,’ he added.

‘It was horrible, but happened so quickly and then the guy came in with the hurling stick to help.

‘I didn’t know it was Stephen who was attacked to begin with. I only found out this morning that the police have been in his flat.

‘He was attacked right outside the front of his flat. He’s alive… just about, from what I hear.

‘The Sudanese guy who is accused of attacking him lived on another block. He’d only just moved in.’

A man who lives near the flats said: ‘I saw all the police and the ambulance outside the flats.

‘The paramedics were talking to Stephen as they were treating him. I heard them call him by his name as he was helped into the ambulance.

‘I’ve seen him around. He’s originally from Scotland and has been living in the flats for a few years. He’s a vulnerable person, and some of his neighbours look out for him.

‘The Sudanese guy who police have arrested also lived in the block, apparently. He’d not been living there long, maybe a week or so. He’d only just been moved there. It’s all social housing.’

Jon Boutcher, the chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), said yesterday that the alleged attacker was believed to have travelled from Sudan to Paris and then to Dublin before taking a bus to Belfast in February 2023.

He then claimed asylum in the city and was given leave to remain in the UK until September of the same year.

DUP leader and East Belfast MP Gavin Robinson told the Commons today that the suspect was in the UK under a five-year visa.

The Home Office has since confirmed the suspect was granted refugee status after arriving in the UK and was granted leave to remain until 2028. 

He is due to appear in court in Belfast today, the PSNI said, following the attack. 

Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn said he did not know the answer to the ‘legitimate question’ of how he arrived in the country.

Lendrick Street in Belfast is engulfed in flames, with multiple cars and at least one house ablaze

Flames engulf the street in the eastern part of the city with one car turned on its side 

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘Last night’s brutal [attack] in Belfast is appalling.

‘The Government must ensure full details about the suspect’s nationality… and immigration status are released.

‘Total transparency is required. If it turns out this man is an illegal immigrant, it would provide further evidence that the Government’s lack of border control is endangering the public.’

During Monday night’s attack, footage showed bystanders intervening, including a man with a hurling stick who hit the suspect while others helped to subdue the man.

Mr Ogilvie was rushed to the hospital with serious injuries to his face, neck and back, and is said to be in a ‘critical’ condition.

Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson, of the PSNI, told journalists that the victim suffered significant injuries to his eyes and serious slash wounds to his back and face after being attacked with a kitchen knife.

He said: ‘My understanding is that the individual came into Northern Ireland from Dublin, moving up, and then was granted leave to remain.

‘I share the public revulsion over the brutal nature of this attack, which has created concern not only here in Northern Ireland, but much further afield, and I understand also that there will be questions regarding the nature of the attack.’

There is nothing to suggest at this stage that the attack is terrorism-related, he added, and he went on to urge members of the public to be ‘very mindful of what they share online’ after graphic footage of the attack was posted.

Following the attack, Belfast has erupted in flames as houses and buses were torched by furious protesters responding to the incident – defying government ministers’ calls for calm. 

Ugly scenes broke out on the streets of the Northern Irish capital, with masked men clashing with police, and reports of a group kicking in doors to ‘get the foreigners out’. 

Fire crews rushed to fires across the city as vehicles and piles of rubble were torched

Hundreds of masked men defied government ministers to take to the streets

Fires have been set across Belfast and continued to burn as night fell, with the city’s fire crews scrambling to several incidents, and the police force closing streets.

Locals were evacuated from Lendrick Street in east Belfast, with footage from the scene showing flames leaping from at least one property.

Dramatic scenes came after protesters torched a Glider bus on the Newtownards Road, soon after crowds first began to gather.

The crowd appeared to have pushed a flaming bin towards the vehicle, and photographs show it entirely burnt out.

In the Lower Newtownards Road area in east Belfast, around 100 masked men made their way down the street, kicking in doors and smashing windows, saying they were ‘getting the foreigners out’, the BBC reported. 

Police vehicles have come under attack in some areas of the city from protesters hurling bricks and other projectiles.

Northern Ireland’s Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly has appealed for calm, writing on social media: ‘I know all are horrified about what has happened. I know so many are angry, and there are those who want to register a protest.

‘This is an appeal to act in an entirely peaceful way. Violence does not advance any cause; it damages it. Destroying things within your own community benefits no one.

‘Taking frustration at the evil actions of a person out on those who had no part in it is utterly wrong.’