ASYLUM seeker Quham Babatunde was stabbed three times and “lost his life in an unprovoked attack” during a Valentine’s night row in Dublin, a court has heard.
Twenty-three-year-old Sean Forde, who was allegedly “in the thick of it” during the incident, was charged with violent disorder and refused bail by Judge John Cheatle today.
Mr Babatunde, who was 34 and from Nigeria, died after being stabbed on Anne Street South in the city centre at around 3am on February 15.
Sean Forde, 23, with an address at Bath Road, Balbriggan, Co Dublin, was charged with violent disorder at Anne Street South on February 15.
He was the fourth person charged in the investigation into the death of Mr Babatunde.
According to the charge, he and two co-defendants, Jeffery Bangu and Rory Carr, and persons unknown used or threatened to use unlawful violence that would cause a person to fear for their own or another’s safety.
Detective Garda Will McCarthy told Dublin District Court that Mr Forde made no reply to the charge and that he exercised his right to silence when questioned.
The accused, who did not address the court, was arrested at 8am on Tuesday.
Objecting to bail, Detective Garda McCarthy said an investigation file would be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions with a recommendation for other serious charges and that the case proceed to the Circuit Court.
The contested bail hearing was told that the accused and a group of associates had a VIP booth in the Twenty Two Nightclub on Anne Street South on Friday, Valentine’s night and arrived at 11.30pm.
They left at about 2.30am when a large group of people emptied onto the street.
He described the vast majority of the people leaving the venue as innocent bystanders who went on to witness a “severe violent disorder incident and subsequent murder of Quham Babatunde”.
At about 3am, a large fight broke out and was allegedly instigated by Sean Forde’s friends and multiple random people “for minor perceived slights,” and it was believed to have been fuelled by intoxicants.
The court heard that they put on ski masks and other facial obstructions to conceal their identities and acted aggressively.
It was alleged another person in the group viciously attacked Mr Babatunde.
Other members of the group, “close associates” of Mr Forde, were the primary aggressors in this incident, Judge Cheatle was told.
It was alleged Mr Forde attempted to join in the disorder after others had already assaulted Mr Babatunde. The court heard he had been stabbed three times in the abdomen and the back by another close associate of the accused.
The court heard that as Mr Babatunde recoiled from the stabbing and tried to get away from the attackers, he was allegedly punched in the head and face area by Sean Forde.
Mr Babatunde was then viciously attacked by the accused’s friends in an unprovoked manner and ultimately received a fatal stab wound to the chest, the court heard.
The detective said one of Mr Babatunde’s friends, Adetola Adetuilehim, came to his aid and was set upon and badly assaulted by the same group.
Sean Forde was not involved in this but was among the group and “centrally involved in the violent disorder incident”, the officer said.
The court heard he pulled up his jacket to conceal his identity, encouraged friends to leave the area, and guided them away from the scene.
Having dragged away some of his friends he was seen pursuing a person who had been recording a suspect, “snapped a phone out of their hand onto the ground before proceeding to stamp on it and kicked it away”, the detective stated.
The court heard the accused fled to Grafton Street with another male but did a “loop” to Dawson Street.
It was alleged he went back to Anne Street South and was observed a distance away from Mr Babatunde “while on the phone to persons unknown”.
The judge noted it was captured on CCTV and recorded on mobile phones by people in the area, and a vast amount of footage was harvested.
Cross-examined by defence counsel Luke O’Higgins, the detective agreed it could be a year until his client’s trial.
He also accepted Mr O’Higgins’s assertion that his client did not cause the fatal injury.
Counsel said Mr Forde was seen pulling friends away and had a more “diminished role” but the detective claimed Mr Forde was “in the thick of it”.
The court heard that when gardai arrived at his house, his trousers were seized from a wash basket.
He told them his T-shirt and runners from the night had been left in a city-centre hotel, and officers had located them.
The detective agreed that the accused, who had been granted legal aid, came from a good and supportive family and that his mother was in the public gallery.
The officer raised fears about witness interference, which the defence barrister said could be addressed by bail conditions.
However, Judge Cheatle denied bail and remanded him in custody to appear again next Wednesday.
Three co-defendants have yet to make bail applications and remain in custody.
Ryan Ndede, 23, of Boroimhe Birches, Swords, Co Dublin, was arrested by the PSNI in Belfast after boarding a ferry to England. He was charged with Quham Babatunde’s murder and remanded in custody after he appeared at Belfast Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
On February 19, Rory Carr, 21, of Ard na Greine, Seapoint Lane, Balbriggan, was remanded in custody by Dublin District Court on connected charges. He was accused of assault causing harm to Mr Babatunde and Adetuilehim at Anne Street South, and violent disorder.
A day earlier, at the same court, Jeffrey Bangu, 21, of Cardy Rock Crescent, Balbriggan, was charged with assault causing harm to Mr Babatunde at Duke Lane and to Adetuilehim. He was accused of violent disorder and the production of a knife during the course of a fight at Anne Street South.
Mr Babatunde had been living in the Ballyogan accommodation centre in south Dublin pending his asylum request process.
