THE FAMILY OF Qayyum Balogun, the 21-year-old man who was stabbed to death in Dublin city centre in the early hours of Monday morning, have described him as “a very quiet, easy-going boy” who never got into trouble.
“He’s always friendly. He’s a good boy, a very quiet, easy-going boy. He doesn’t cause trouble, goes his own way, and does his own thing, like his dad. He was his dad’s best friend,” Qayyum’s mother Teslimot Balogun told RTÉ Radio 1’s Drivetime.
The young man from Dundalk had been attending a late-night concert by the singer Famous Pluto in Bewley’s on Grafton Street before he was attacked.
He was pronounced dead at St James’s Hospital after being found by emergency services suffering from stab wounds on nearby Clarendon Street at around 3am on Monday morning.
“He died instantly,” she said, so when she arrived at the hospital on Monday afternoon, “I found my son’s dead body”.
Loveth Patrick, Qayyum’s stepmother, also remembered him as “the sweetest soul” and a gentle person who mostly kept to himself.
“He’s always smiling. He doesn’t look for trouble,” she told the radio programme.
Qayyum was studying computer science at Maynooth University.
“If he were still alive, he should be graduating next year,” Patrick said, who also said Qayyum was going to turn 22 in September.
“This is unbelievable shock. We need justice for Qayyum. That is all we need,” she said.