George Bento: Josh Dunne’s death ‘something I’ll regret for the rest of my life’

Courts

Unfortunate sequence of events produced mayhem and death in Dublin’s East Wall

Alison O’Riordan
Brian Kavanagh
Tue Jun 14 2022 - 18:39

While being interviewed by detectives at Store Street Garda station in Dublin’s inner city, George Bento asked them if they had seen City of God, Fernando Meirelles’s 2002 film about life in the notorious slums of Rio de Janeiro, in his home country of Brazil.

Life had been difficult there, the 36-year-old said. While not himself involved “in anything unlawful”, he had lost friends to the scourge of crime and drugs, but he had been kept safe by a strong family. “It’s a hard situation, but it’s happy. I worked a lot and I always try to improve my life,” said Bento, who came to Ireland in February 2019.

Life in Ireland was good, at the beginning. Soon, he found a job as a food delivery cyclist, but, like other couriers, was often attacked by youths, who threw stones and eggs. During his murder trial, he said: “[I] always avoid, and always try to go away.”

“For them it was fun, for us we were working and trying to improve life,” he said in broken English, adding that he had not come to Ireland “to make problems” for anyone. “My intention is to do something good and never something bad,” he told his murder trial.

READ MORE

But something bad happened on January 26th, 2021, on East Wall Road in the north inner city. At 9pm, 16-year-old Josh Dunne and his friends had made their way east to a pizza shop but it was closed.

Turning back, Dunne’s group came face to face with a stand-off already under way between a bike thief and two food-delivery cyclists, one of whom was George Gonzaga Bento. Moments later, Dunne, who had never come to Garda attention, was stabbed twice by the Brazilian.

[ Delivery cyclist found not guilty on all counts in Josh Dunne murder trial ]

In his interviews with detectives, Bento was unwavering. He had only tried to defend himself, had never intended to hurt anyone and believed that “justice will show this; the divine justice will show the right way”.

Taking the stand in Central Criminal Court, Bento said Dunne and another youth had “come for” and attacked him and a colleague, Guilherme Quieroz. “Both of them attack me and I react to that attack. I just try to keep me safe and defend myself [sic]”. That night, Bento had worked out of the McDonald’s at East Wall when he saw a man on a moped making off with a delivery cyclist’s electric bike. The thief rode his vehicle down East Wall Road, carrying the stolen bicycle on his shoulder.

“It doesn’t matter it’s not my bike; he is doing something wrong and I had the opportunity to stop him. I just tried to do as I consider myself a good person,” Bento said, explaining his thinking at the time. Together with Quieroz, he followed the man to the junction of East Wall Road.

When they approached, the thief tried to intimidate and insult them, riding around them in circles, trying to kick them. The thief got off his vehicle and pretended that he “had a knife” at his back, Bento said, who responded by taking his own knife from his pocket, which he said he used to cut fruit, hoping that the thief would go away. “I don’t want problem, I just want my friend’s bike back [sic].”

Bento had produced his knife only after being threatened by the moped thief, who was the “instigator” of the row and “a thief and thug” who had attacked the two Brazilians, said defence counsel Padraig Dwyer.

In addition, he said Bento gave a false account to gardaí and in the witness box when he said that during the confrontation with the man on the moped he had kept his distance when CCTV evidence showed Bento moving towards him.

In that testimony, Bento told jurors: “I then tried to get the electric bike from the floor and saw the bicycle wheels were locked. I told Guilherme that we couldn’t carry the bike anywhere and to let’s go home. I looked across the road and there were more than 10 teenagers.”

Like Bento, Queiroz said he had never been involved in a fight in his life and had tried to avoid confrontation in Dublin when he was faced with “a few episodes” as a delivery rider, where street gangs would throw stones when he was working.

Bikes were commonly stolen from Deliveroo riders, Quieroz said, adding that Dublin 3 is “very dangerous” and riders use a WhatsApp group to communicate real-time information about “trouble spots”, including information to identify potential attackers.

‘No longer felt safe’

Giving evidence, Supt Paul Costello said Dunne’s death was one of three violent events in the district just days apart, including the fatal stabbing of a Mongolian woman, Urantsetseg Tserendorj, in the IFSC just six days before Dunne died.

A few months before, Deliveroo cyclist Thiago Cortes had been killed in a hit-and-run on North Wall Quay in August 2020, while another Deliveroo driver, Francisco Teruliano de Oliviera Neto, had been attacked in Finglas in February 2019 after he asked for directions.

Delivery riders outside court after George Gonzaga Bento was acquitted of the murder of Josh Dunne on Tuesday. Photograph: Collins Courts

He had heard “an outpouring of concern” during a meeting with Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats and rider representatives, he said, adding that a protest march held after Cortes’s death from the GPO to North Wall Quay had attracted “verbal abuse” from locals.

Fergal McCawley, a civilian working in An Garda Síochána, said there had been a dramatic rise in the number of bikes and e-bikes stolen in 2020, with violence, while Tiago da Silva, whose bike had been stolen by the moped thief, pointed out the poor working conditions facing riders.

In interviews with gardaí, Bento said he had become “completely scared” when he saw the group of youths, who were mostly on bikes and scooters, because he believed they were going to attack him and Quieroz. Three, including Dunne, crossed the road.

Dunne initially took hold of the moped, as two of his friends launched what Bento’s defence told the jury was a “violent, ugly and unlawful” attack. “I ask myself why no one helps us as we try to avoid a crime. We are on the good side, we try to do something good,” Bento told the court.

Bento said he had taken his knife from his pocket as he was being punched. “I ended up stabbing him. I had my hand raised showing them to stop. Another man came and kicked me in the side and I ended up stabbing him as well,” he said. Dunne’s teenage friend was the first to be stabbed, according to CCTV evidence, and he sustained three stab injuries to his chest, back and abdomen. Seeing that, Dunne let go of the moped, moved toward Bento and punched him.

The prosecution case was that Dunne had not done any harm to anyone until he saw his friend being stabbed and that he had reacted and was entitled to punch Bento to push him away. Within five seconds of letting go of the moped, Dunne had been stabbed twice in the chest, with injuries, also, to his left hand.

He walked away from the group and collapsed at 9.22pm. He was declared dead at 10.29pm that night at the Mater hospital.

The prosecution case was that by the time Bento produced the knife for a second time — the first being when he was faced with the moped thief, the teens were backing away and neither Bento nor Quieroz was being assaulted.

“Josh Dunne was to be commended for trying to protect his friends from a lethal, unlawful assault. Mr Bento’s reaction was to use lethal, unlawful force to repel what was reasonable force used by Josh Dunne in self-defence,” Guerin added.

Explaining why he had drawn his knife a second time, Bento said he wanted to stop the youths coming near him and Quieroz. “Guilherme was being attacked by three at the time and there were another three coming,” he added. Breaking down in the stand, Bento defended the force he had used. “I feel very upset about how this finished. I tried to help not to try and hurt someone.”

He added: “I believe I saved two lives, mine and Guilherme’s.” When detectives put it to him that he had stabbed one youth three times in three seconds and that Dunne was dead, the accused replied: “All of that is a mistake. I shouldn’t have stopped the bike being stolen, as I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for that. This is something I’ll regret for the rest of my life”.

Quieroz testified that he had been attacked by up to three people, had his teeth and nose broken and his knee injured and that Bento’s actions had saved him from more injuries, or death, by doing what he did.

Bento had told the youths to “stay, stay away” three times”, said Quieroz. He added that Bento had drawn his knife as “they were coming to assault us”. He did not see the stabbing because “I was being hit, I was afraid of dying.”

Having seen CCTV footage since, he said he now knows Bento had twice come to save him, once when he had his back up against a wall and was being punched and a second time when he was “dragged” to the road and punched. Quieroz told the jury that he was scared to leave his house after the “traumatic” incident and had to stay at home for at least 20 days. He eventually left Ireland, returning only to give evidence in the trial.

“It is a mistake that Irish people would not make because we know the consequences of trying to stop a crime in this city; that you become a victim of crime yourself,” defence counsel told the jury.