Man, 44, left with horror injuries in Belfast ‘attempted beheading’ pictured… after ‘knifeman licked lips with blood’

A MAN who was injured in an “attempted beheading” in Belfast has been pictured for the first time.

Stephen Ogilvie, believed to be aged 44, suffered devastating injuries after the frenzied knife attack.

Harrowing footage appeared to show the attacker repeatedly slashing at the man’s face and neck as horrified onlookers screamed “get off”.

One witness could be heard shouting: “He’s trying to cut his head off.”

Cops said Stephen suffered injuries to his eyes as well as slash wounds to his neck and back during the assault in north Belfast.

The shocking attack was only brought to an end after brave bystanders and police officers rushed to intervene.

Protests erupted on the streets of Belfast overnight, with buildings and cars set alight, as the clean up begins this morning.

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Catch up on the latest…

• Man, 30, charged with attempted murder after Belfast “beheading attack”
• Cops detained a Sudanese asylum seeker in his 30s, who is understood to have entered Belfast from Dublin
• Harrowing footage appears to show a knifeman slashing the victim’s neck
• Young dad Maitiu Mág Tighearnán, known as Matt, confronted the attacker, grabbing a wooden hurley stick, used in the Irish sport of hurling, he swung at the man
• Protests erupt in Belfast as homes, buses and bins torched
• Grinning Sudanese ‘knifeman licked his lips with victim’s blood’

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Among the heroes was Maitiu Mág Tighearnán, known as Matt, who stumbled upon the scene after returning home from a night out.

Grabbing a wooden hurley stick – used in the Irish sport of hurling – the young dad charged towards the knifeman.

Police later said the actions of courageous members of the public and responding officers had “undoubtedly” saved the victim’s life.

Mum Karen Mulholland watched in horror as the savage attack unfolded near her home while her children were indoors on Monday night.

Speaking to the Irish Sun, Karen told how the violence erupted just moments after her children came in from playing outside.

She said: “We were just sitting in the house with the children and heard a car flying down the street.

“It’s kind of normal here, they get over the bump and then they hit the speed and then they go down.

“But then my partner shouted, they’re squealing out there, I heard something’s happened.”

Karen rushed outside after hearing the commotion and described seeing “a man on top of another man”.

At first she believed the pair were fighting but seconds later she heard the chilling sound of the “ding” as a knife hit the concrete.

Karen recalled: “My partner shouted, ‘what’s wrong?’, I said, ‘they’re fighting each other’.

“And just as I shouted, I turned back and I heard the blade hitting the floor, the knife, the ding.

“And I just shouted, he’s stabbing him, he’s stabbing him, you need to ring the police.

“I was squealing that he’s stabbing and that’s when all the neighbours heard me shouting and screaming.”

She added: “When my partner came back, I seen the life drain from him and he went, ‘He’s dead, he’s dead’.

“And we’re on the phone to police and I’m squealing, he’s dead, you just need to get here, get here now.”

Another neighbour, who gave his name only as Hugh, 70, told The Sun: “I’ve heard Stephen was the victim.

“He’s lived here for around a year and a half… what’s happened to him is absolutely horrendous and I’d never wish that on anybody.”

Stephen lives in a first-floor flat in the area.

His apartment window remains boarded up after a rock was allegedly thrown through it during an incident last year.

Residents said the suspected attacker had only moved into a neighbouring block a matter of days before the assault.

The housing association complex contains 36 flats.

Recalling the horror as it unfolded, Hugh said: “I saw all the commotion from the window. I felt sick when I saw it, it all happened so quickly.”

He added that around seven asylum seekers had moved into the block over the past year.

Detectives investigating the attack have recovered a kitchen knife from the scene.

A 30-year-old man has since been charged with attempted murder, possession of an article with a blade in a public place and threats to kill.

He is due to appear before Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.

It comes after cops arrested a Sudanese asylum seeker who travelled to Belfast in February 2023 before being granted leave to remain in the UK.

Protests erupted in Belfast last night, with homes, buses and bins set alight.

Yobs in balaclavas torched cars parked on residential streets and driveways, which appear to have caused three houses to catch fire.

A bus on the Newtownards Road in east Belfast was set alight, forcing Translink to suspend its services until further notice.

Many of the protesters were dressed in dark tracksuits with their hoods up and masks on.

Some were seen throwing red and orange coloured smoke flares.

Elsewhere in the city, other cars and a tractor were engulfed by flames as police set up barricades and organise fleets of riot vans.