A Sudanese asylum seeker told police ‘I’ve killed someone’ after allegedly stabbing a man in the Belfast knife attack, a court heard today. 

Hadi Alodid was charged with the attempted murder of Stephen Ogilvie, making threats to kill an NHS radiographer on the same day and possession of a knife.

The 30-year-old said ‘I’ve killed someone, I don’t know if they are dead’ while in hospital receiving treatment for a hand injury after the incident on Monday night – and said to medical staff: ‘I will kill you’, a detective told Belfast Magistrates’ Court.

Alodid, with an address in Belfast, appeared before the court via videolink today and was remanded in custody for four weeks. Alodid refused legal representation and made no reply to the charges which were put to him through an Arabic interpreter.

The detective told the court that at 10.30pm on Monday police received report of a serious assault in the Kinnaird Avenue area. She said they found the defendant armed with a knife at the scene and removed him from on top of the victim. The detective said the victim has lost his left eye, and has deep cuts to his head, face and back.

Alodid was refused bail after the detective told of fears it would lead to ‘significant public disorder’ if he was released due to ‘strong public feeling’ about the incident.

Police said they ‘strongly’ opposed bail on the grounds that Alodid is charged with an ‘extremely serious offence’ that has ‘garnered serious media attention’.

The detective told the court that if further offences were committed they would be ‘serious and unpredictable in nature’, and said the man is from Sudan and has links outside of the jurisdiction. She also explained to the court that he may fear for his own safety or fear a possible long custodial sentence. The defendant made no reply.

District Judge Stephen Keown said the risks were ‘far too great’ and would be ‘unmanageable by any bail conditions’, and refused bail due to the risk of reoffending, risk of harm to the public, risk of public disorder and risk of flight.

The PSNI launched a ‘critical incident’ after Monday’s attack which was captured on video 

Lendrick Street in Belfast is engulfed in flames last night during rioting following the stabbing

A bus on the Newtownards Road in east Belfast was one of the first targets to be set alight

He is next due to appear in court in four weeks’ time.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) previously revealed details on Alodid’s immigration status and how he travelled to the UK.

Alodid entered Northern Ireland across the Irish border in February 2023 having flown to Dublin from Paris.

The suspect claimed asylum upon arrival and in September 2023 was granted leave to remain in the UK until 2028.

The PSNI launched a ‘critical incident’ in response to the attack on Monday which was captured on video and appears to show a man stabbing at the victim’s head and neck while he was lying on the ground.

The clip shows people, including one with a hurling stick, intervening to stop the attack in the Kinnaird Avenue residential area close to the busy Antrim Road in north Belfast. A kitchen knife was recovered from the scene.

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Also this morning, Sir Keir Starmer promised to use ‘the full force of the law’ after a night of racist violence in Belfast following the attack.

The reaction to the incident saw mobs set homes, a bus and cars on fire, with people targeted based on their race.

The Prime Minister said: ‘The scenes in Belfast last night were shocking and completely unacceptable. 

‘There is no justification for the violence and disorder that we saw threatening our communities, nor for those who encouraged it, online or elsewhere.

‘It is clear that people were targeted last night because of their background and I will not tolerate it. Those responsible will feel the full force of the law.’

Northern Ireland’s Justice Minister Naomi Long said social media agitators who ‘yesterday would have struggled to find Belfast on a map’ were ‘weaponising the fear that people genuinely have about what happened’.

‘Because, ultimately, if you’re driving people from their homes based on nothing but the colour of their skin, you can’t dress that up any other way, it’s racism, and those bad faith actors need to take a step back,’ Ms Long told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said the disorder was a ‘huge act of self-harm by mindless idiots who are actually only damaging their own futures’.

He told the BBC’s Good Morning Ulster: ‘We lobbied continually for people to recognise how great Northern Ireland is. Last night took us back seismically.’

Mr Boutcher added: ‘We live in a democracy. If there is to be a debate about immigration, if there is to be a debate about any key issues, that’s through politicians and elected mandate that will occur next May.

‘Do not, do not, act in a way that literally brings this place into a disrepute that it doesn’t deserve.’

Firefighters attend a house following violent sences on Ligoniel Road in Belfast last night

Stephen Ogilvie was named locally as the victim of Monday night’s attack

Fire crews arrive to put out a blaze on a vehicle which was set alight in East Belfast last night

Ulster Unionist Party leader Jon Burrows witnessed disorder on the Newtownards Road in east Belfast last night.

‘These were mostly children less than 16, faces covered and believing that their patriotic duty was to go and set fire to a Glider bus, to try and find homes that were linked to immigrants. Those scenes were absolutely horrendous,’ he told Good Morning Ulster.

Anti-immigration demonstrations took place across Northern Ireland yesterday evening, with a number descending into disorder.

A Glider bus was set alight in east Belfast, prompting all bus and train services to be suspended.

In Lendrick Street in Belfast, several cars were set alight and Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service officers had to remove some residents from houses after they caught fire.

A number of houses and vehicles were set on fire near the Ligoniel Road area of Belfast and a police car was set alight in Portadown.

Anselme Shima, originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who lives with his wife, two sons and daughter near Lendrick Street, said it was a ‘very scary moment’ for his family.

He said: ‘It’s just a terrifying moment, we don’t know what to do. I’m scared. Seeing this, I’m wondering if I’m next. If this happened (again), is my house the next to be attacked? I don’t know.’

Burnt-out cars and houses pictured this morning on Lendrick Street following the rioting

Vehicles set on fire by protesters on Lendrick Street in Belfast last night as disorder flares

Hundreds of masked men defied government ministers’ calls for calm to take to the streets

Online posts highlighted demands for people to take to the streets in the wake of the attack.

Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice said the violence in Belfast was ‘utterly unacceptable’.

Asked whether he condemned the unrest, Mr Tice told a London press conference: ‘Of course, we always condemn any violence, violent protest, or whatever. It’s completely unacceptable, and along with all politicians of all different stripes.

‘Lawful protest is of course something that is a vital part of a democracy, but everybody has to understand that there is a huge difference between expressing one’s concern for what is going on lawfully, peacefully, respectfully, and violence, criminal activities, sort of the fires we saw last night, damage to public property – totally and utterly unacceptable.

He added: ‘We would urge calm, we would urge people to to recognise that the police have got to do their work in Northern Ireland, and those who want to express their concern, their anxiety, their frustration do that peacefully, lawfully.

‘But that cannot cross the line into any form of violence or damage. It’s not who we are, it’s not what we do, it’s not the United Kingdom.’

Mr Tice also shut down as ‘outrageous’ a question on whether the unrest could be linked to Nigel Farage’s comments on Henry Nowak’s murder, after the Reform leader last week said the public should feel ‘pure, cold rage’ about the fatal stabbing of the 18-year-old student.

Meanwhile police forces across the UK are monitoring intelligence on protests and have plans in place to allow them to mobilise officers if needed should further disorder break out in the wake of the Belfast stabbing and the murder of Henry in Southampton last December.

A spokesperson for the National Police Chiefs Council said: ‘Police are closely monitoring intelligence and information on protest activity to ensure a swift and decisive response to any reports of public disorder.

‘We have well-established plans in place to enable us to mobilise officers at a regional and national level if required.’