{"id":479802,"date":"2026-06-02T21:03:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T21:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/479802\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T21:03:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T21:03:08","slug":"man-killed-in-grafton-street-stabbing-was-always-smiling-and-a-credit-to-his-community-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/479802\/","title":{"rendered":"Man killed in Grafton Street stabbing was \u2018always smiling\u2019 and a \u2018credit to his community\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Garda\u00ed<\/a> investigating the killing of 21-year-old gig promoter Qayyum Balogun in a stabbing off Grafton Street<\/a>, Dublin at the weekend are studying video footage capturing the chaotic moments before he was fatally attacked.<\/p>\n

Detectives have ruled out a racial motive for the killing and are trying to determine if Balogun knew his killer, or at least moved in the same social circles, based on the African music scene in Dublin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some of the videos filmed around the time of his killing were recorded by people on the street as revellers poured out of a gig in Bewley\u2019s Cafe, where Balogun had spent Sunday night into Monday morning.<\/p>\n

Garda\u00ed strongly suspect the man who fatally stabbed Balogun is captured in some of the footage, which they are also using to help identify witnesses who were on the scene at the time, just before 3am on Monday.<\/p>\n

A young woman who was on the street when the dispute erupted was also stabbed. She sustained a wound to her leg and was taken to hospital for treatment, though her injury was not believed to be life-threatening.<\/p>\n

Balogun was from a Nigerian family but had grown up in Ireland, including attending national school. He lived in Dundalk, Co Louth, where his mother still lives. His father does not reside in the Republic but on learning of his son\u2019s death made arrangements to travel here. <\/p>\n

Speaking on RT\u00c9 Radio\u2019s Drivetime on Tuesday evening, Teslimot Balogun, Qayyum\u2019s mother, described her son as \u201ca very funny guy\u201d who was \u201calways friendly, very quiet, easy going\u201d.<\/p>\n

Loveth Patrick, his stepmother, described the situation as an \u201cunbelievable shock\u201d. Patrick said Qayyum was \u201cone of the sweetest souls you [could] ever meet, gentle, calm\u201d. She said he was \u201calways smiling\u201d and didn\u2019t \u201clook for trouble\u201d. She told Drivetime his family \u201cdon\u2019t know\u201d what happened and want answers. \u201cWe want justice for Qayyum.\u201d<\/p>\n

Qayyum would have turned 22 in September and was due to begin his final year studying Computer Science at Maynooth University, she said.<\/p>\n

He did his Leaving Certificate in \u00d3 Fiaich College in Dundalk, before studying business and computing at the \u00d3 Fiaich Institute of Further Education.<\/p>\n

Padraig McGovern, principal of the school, said the death came as a huge shock. \u201cEverybody here is really shocked, and the wider community \u2013 people are ringing me as well in shock and almost disbelief.\u201d<\/p>\n

McGovern told Drivetime Qayyum did \u201cvery well\u201d in his studies and was \u201ca lovely young lad, very much part of our school community\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cA credit to his family, a credit to his community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The victim was well known on the African music scene in Dublin as a concert promoter. He had attended a gig by 20-year-old Nigerian artist Famous Pluto in Bewley\u2019s. <\/p>\n

However, a fight erupted between rival groups on Grafton Street, as people who had left the venue were still in the area. Balogun was targeted in the melee and fled up St Johnson\u2019s Court before turning left on to Clarendon Street.<\/p>\n

He was caught there by at least one person who was pursuing him and was stabbed several times, including to the upper body, before collapsing on the street. While he was taken to St James\u2019s Hospital, efforts to save him were not successful and he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.<\/p>\n

Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan was briefed by garda\u00ed about the killing. A department spokesman said he \u201cwishes to extend his condolences to the deceased man\u2019s family at this time\u201d as well as urging anyone with information to contact garda\u00ed.<\/p>\n

A group established to foster and celebrate the successes of Black Irish people \u2013 Black & Irish \u2013 extended its condolences to Balogun\u2019s family, adding he \u201chad his life taken far too soon\u201d. His family now \u201cface an unimaginable loss\u201d, with the impact of the killing being felt across Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis incident comes at a time when the country has witnessed a number of serious violent incidents and loss of life in recent weeks,\u201d Black & Irish added. \u201cThe rise in violence we are seeing is deeply concerning and must be condemned in the strongest possible terms.\u201d<\/p>\n

It urged anyone with information to aid the aid the Garda inquiry, being conducted from Pearse Street station. The Black Coalition Ireland also urged anyone with information to contact garda\u00ed, saying Balogun\u2019s family and friends would need \u201cfortitude to bear this irreparable loss\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunities across Ireland are grappling with growing concerns about violence, youth safety, and the increasing presence of knife-related incidents,\u201d Black Coalition Ireland added. \u201cWhile investigations must be allowed to proceed, one thing is clear: every life lost to violence is one life too many.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Garda\u00ed investigating the killing of 21-year-old gig promoter Qayyum Balogun in a stabbing off Grafton Street, Dublin at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[45,615,94043,61,60,18573,43],"class_list":["post-479802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-an-garda-siochana","tag-dublin","tag-grafton-street","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jim-ocallaghan","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}