A Brazilian delivery driver who disarmed the man carrying out a shocking knife attack in Dublin on Thursday afternoon has said that he acted on "pure instinct". 

Deliveroo driver, Caio Benicio, 43, was on his motorbike when he saw a man with a knife attacking a young girl on Parnell Square East on Thursday afternoon. 

Benicio dismounted the motorbike, removed his helmet, and hit the attacker with it, causing the man to fall to the ground and lose control of the knife. 

The man, who is in his 50s, had stabbed a female creche worker and three young children, including a five-year-old girl who remains in intensive care at Temple Street Hospital as a result of her injuries. Meanwhile, the woman is being treated for serious injuries in the Mater Hospital. 

Benicio explained that he has two children and "had to do something" to stop the attack. 

"I didn’t even make a decision, it was pure instinct, and it was all over in seconds. He fell to the ground, I didn’t see where the knife went, and other people stepped in," he told  TheJournal.ie on Thursday. 

"I have two kids myself, so I had to do something. I did what anyone would do. People were there but they couldn’t step in because he was armed, but I knew I could use my helmet as a weapon." 

The Irish Independent additionally reports that the creche worker had tackled the attacker in an attempt to protect children in the area before Benicio arrived on the scene. 

A source told the publication that the creche worker "defended those children with all her strength" and suffered serious injuries in the process. 

Benicio said he was praying for the five-year-old girl in intensive care, stating that the child looked "so vulnerable" in the ambulance. 

"If a child didn’t survive, I would always think, I could have been faster. I chose to have surgery on my knee recently, it made me slow to get off the bike, could I have been faster?

"If all the victims survive, I will be thankful that I was in the right place, at the right time." 

Benicio said he did not know where his bike was, stating that he left the vehicle inside the Garda cordon on Parnell Square. 

However, he told the Journal that he is not concerned by the bike's whereabouts and only cares about the welfare of the victims. 

Benicio added that he was saddened by the subsequent violent anti-immigrant protests that took place in Dublin on Thursday night, with rioters clashing with police on O'Connell Street. 

"It looks like they hate immigrants. Well I am an immigrant, and I did what I could to try and save that little girl," Benicio told the Journal. 

Rioters burned three buses, a Luas tram, and three Garda cars during a night of violent disruption in Dublin on Thursday in addition to causing extensive damage to a further eight Garda cars. 

They also aimed fireworks and flares at gardaí from close range and looted 13 stores in the city center. Thirty-four arrests were made. The suspects will appear in court on Friday. If found guilty they could face up to 12 years in prison.

Violent disturbances unfolded in Dublin city centre this evening following a stabbing incident in which three young children and a woman were injured. A garda car was set ablaze following clashes between protestors and the public order unit | https://t.co/wF0IVM2ijC pic.twitter.com/MHkS73v7m2

— RTÉ News (@rtenews) November 23, 2023

Related: Crime, Dublin