He has been dubbed a “hero” for helping to subdue a knife-wielding attacker suspected of attacking children outside a Dublin school on Thursday. But the Brazilian delivery man assured AFP on Saturday that he had behaved “as any parent would have.” Caio Benicio, who works for takeaway food delivery app Deliveroo, used his motorcycle helmet to hit the suspect who was attacking a little girl “with all his might.” The attacker was arrested on site.
The intervention of Caio Benicio and other passers-by was warmly welcomed by Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, calling them “true Irish heroes”. The 43-year-old Brazilian, father of a 12-year-old boy and a 19-year-old girl, told AFP that he doesn’t really consider himself a “hero.” “I have two children and I think any parent would have done the same thing,” he said. However, Caio Benicio was moved when many Irish people and his children congratulated him on his courage: “It’s nice to make them proud.”
A call from Macron
A 17-year-old French boy, an apprentice chef in Dublin, also helped disarm the attacker. He sustained minor injuries to his hand and face and received a call on Friday from French President Emmanuel Macron congratulating him on his bravery.
Caio Benicio says the riots following the knife attack, which involved almost 500 people and illustrated rising anti-immigrant sentiment in Ireland, “make no sense”. “They were targeting immigrants, I’m an immigrant myself and I’m the one who helped,” he commented. I think it’s a small group of people who don’t even know what they’re doing, who they’re fighting for. »