Son of stabbing victim decides to leave Ireland after racist taunts

A man whose father was stabbed and critically injured in a attack in Dublin has left Ireland after a racist incident this week.

Mr Christian Richardson (24), originally from Bristol, handed in his notice and left Ireland on Tuesday after the incident on the same day at North Strand, just outside the city centre, when he was challenged by a group of teenagers.

Mr Richardson's father, Mr David Richardson, was stabbed seven times in June at Pearse Street as he walked with his wife to his son's home in Ringsend after a meal in a city-centre restaurant. A man has since been charged in connection with the incident.

The couple, on their first trip together to Dublin, had been celebrating their wedding anniversary and their son's 24th birthday. Mr Richardson is white and his wife and son are black.

He was stabbed three times in the chest, three times in the back and once in the hand and at one point it was feared he might die.

However, he has now returned to Bristol and is making a good recovery, although doctors are concerned about his hand.

Mr Christian Richardson has been living in Dublin for almost a year, and until the attack on his father it was "probably one of the best years in my life". He said he had many friends in Ireland and he believed those involved in racist attacks and abuse were only a very small minority.

However, since the attack on his father, he had felt "a lot more aware and scared, in a way" about attacks. On Tuesday, while cycling to work at the Eastpoint Business Park, Clontarf, he passed a group of teenagers - three youths and a teenage girl pushing a pram - on the bridge over the railway at North Strand.

Speaking from his home in Bristol, he told RTE Radio's Today With Pat Kenny that one of them said something to him as he passed. "I didn't hear it and I looked back, because I thought I might know him because I know a lot of people in Dublin now."

One of them shouted at him: "What are you staring at, black bastard?" Mr Richardson said he started to pedal on and they began to chase him. "If they had caught me they'd have given me a hiding."

He decided there and then that "I'm off. I don't have to take that from anybody". Later he gave in his notice at work, and the company accepted his resignation with regret. The same evening he flew home to Bristol.

Since arriving home he has felt "less tense and more relaxed than in the last couple of weeks". Although he misses his friends, he said he had been feeling "a bit scared" living in Ireland.

Colleagues have expressed their regrets at his departure, describing him as a good worker and very talented. Mr Richardson has had several jobs, mainly in customer service and sales.

His girlfriend, Ms Emily Bermingham, is Irish and he had decided to come to Ireland with her.

Mr Richardson said that in October they would be going for a month's holiday in Thailand. After that he might consider returning to Ireland.