Nigerian Man Fatally Stabbed in Dublin
A murder investigation is underway following the fatal stabbing of a 34-year-old Nigerian man, Quam Babatunde, in Dublin, Ireland. The incident occurred in Dublin city center on South Anne Street around 3 a.m. on Saturday, February 15, 2025.
Minister for Justice, Jim O’Callaghan, confirmed the victim’s nationality and stated that violence on Dublin’s streets is “not acceptable.” Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week with Justin McCarthy, O’Callaghan refrained from providing further details about the deceased, stating that his family had not yet been formally notified. He added, “I’m sure efforts are being made to inform his family of the catastrophic consequences that happened to him in the early hours of Saturday morning.”
The victim, reportedly an asylum seeker, had been socializing at a concert earlier in the evening.
Gardaí responded to the incident on South Anne Street/Duke Lane Upper just after 3 a.m. on Saturday morning. They found a man with serious injuries and unresponsive. Emergency services personnel treated him at the scene before transferring him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
The stabbing occurred during a large-scale public order incident involving two groups of people who had been socializing at a venue before the violence spilled onto the street.
Gardaí are reviewing CCTV footage and social media videos. A second man is currently hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.
Footage of the incident has circulated widely on social media. One video shows a large group of people on the street, with one man visibly armed with a knife.
O’Callaghan confirmed that he had seen the video. “It is shocking footage, and the individual carrying the knife and the other individuals there with him, involved in the violence, need to know that An Garda Síochána are making very good progress in terms of identifying them,” the Justice Minister said. “I also want to put out a message that carrying knives and acts of violence on the street are not acceptable in Ireland, and nor will they ever be acceptable.”
He also emphasized the need for better technology for the Gardaí, including facial recognition, to improve the efficiency of their work. “You will know from the videos that we see in respect of the instant yesterday that the gardaí will have to track these individuals down based on CCTV,” he said. “Facial recognition technology would be of great assistance to the gardaí and would speed up the process of investigation, and that’s why I’m hoping the opposition parties will support that legislation when I bring it into the Dáil.”
