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A teenager who stabbed three young girls to death on a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England was sentenced Thursday to more than 50 years in prison for what a judge called “the most extreme, shocking and extremely serious crime.”
Judge Julian Goose said the 18-year-old Axel Rudakubana “wanted to attempt the mass murder of innocent, happy young girls.”
Goose said he could not impose a life sentence without parole because Rudakubana was under 18 when he committed the crime.
But the judge said he must serve 52 years, minus the six months he spent in custody, before being considered for parole, and “it is likely he will never be released.”
Rudakubana was 17 when he attacked children in the seaside town of Southport in July, killing Alice Da Silva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6. He wounded eight other girls, aged 7 to 13. , along with teacher Leanne Lucas and John Hayes, a local businessman who intervened.
The attack shocked the country and took off and street violence and soul care. The government has announced a public inquiry into how the system failed to stop the killer, who has been repeatedly singled out by authorities for his obsession with violence.
The accused disturbs the discussion
Rudakubana faced three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and additional charges of possession of a knife, ricin poison and al-Qaeda manual. He changed unexpectedly his guilty plea on all charges Monday.
However, he was not in court on Thursday to hear the verdict.
A few hours earlier, he was led into the dock at Liverpool Crown Court in north-west England, dressed in a gray prison tracksuit. But when prosecutors began to present their evidence, Rudakubana interrupted them, shouting that he was feeling unwell and wanted to see a paramedic.
Goose ordered the accused to move away when he continued to shout. A person in the courtroom shouted “Coward!” since Rudakubana was taken out.
The hearing continued without him.
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Horror on a summer day
Prosecutor Deanna Heer described how the attack happened on the first day of summer vacation when 26 girls “gathered around tables making bracelets and singing along to Taylor Swift songs.”
Rudakubana, armed with a large knife, burst in and began stabbing the girls and their teacher.
The court was shown footage of the suspect arriving at Hart Space in a taxi and entering the building. Within seconds, screams broke out, and children ran outside in panic, some of them wounded. One girl reached the door, but the attacker pulled her inside. She was stabbed 32 times but survived.
Sighs and sobs could be heard in court as the videos were played.
Heer said the two dead children “suffered particularly horrific injuries that are difficult to explain away as anything other than sadistic in nature.” One of the dead girls had 122 injuries, while the other had 85 injuries.
A teenager obsessed with violence
The prosecutor said that Rudakubana had a “long-term obsession with violence, killing, genocide”.
“His only purpose was to kill. And he targeted the youngest and most vulnerable in society,” she said, while relatives of the victims watched her in the courtroom.
Heer said that when Rudakubana was taken to the police station, he was heard saying: “It’s a good thing those children are dead, I’m so glad, I’m so happy.”
The murders started several days anti-immigrant violence across the country after far-right activists seized on inaccurate reports that the attacker was an asylum seeker who had recently arrived in the U.K. Some suggested the crime was a jihadist attack and claimed the police and government were hiding information.
Rudakubana was born in Cardiff, Wales to Rwandan Christian parents, and investigators have been unable to determine his motivation. Police found documents on cases including Nazi Germanythe Genocide in Rwanda and car bombs on their devices.
In the years before the attack, he was reported to several authorities for his violent interests and actions. No agency has failed to recognize the danger it poses.
In 2019, he called a child counseling center and asked “What should I do if I want to kill someone?” He said he brought the knife to school because he wanted to kill someone who was bullying him. Two months later, he attacked a fellow student with a hockey stick and was convicted of assault.
Definition of terrorism
Prosecutors said Rudakubana was referred three times to the government’s anti-extremism program, Prevent, when he was 13 and 14 — once after investigating a school shooting in his class, then for posting pictures of the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Instagram and for research a terrorist attack in London.
But they concluded that his crimes should not be classified as terrorism because Rudakubana had no apparent political or religious motive. Heer said that “his purpose was to commit mass murder, not for a specific purpose, but as an end in itself.”
Prime minister Keir Starmer said this week that the country must face a “new threat” from violent individuals whose combination of motivations tests the traditional definition of terrorism.
“After one of the most harrowing moments in our country’s history, we owe it to these innocent young girls and all those affected to deliver the change they deserve,” Starmer said after the sentencing.
Poignant testimonies of the victims
Several relatives and survivors read emotional statements in court, describing how the attack had shattered their lives.
Lucas, 36, who ran a dance class, said “the trauma of being both a victim and a witness was terrible”.
“I can’t give myself sympathy or accept praise, because how can I live knowing that I survived when the children died?” she said.
The 14-year-old survivor, who cannot be named due to a court order, said this while she was physically recovering. “We will all have to live with the mental pain from that day forever.”
“I hope you spend the rest of your life knowing we think you’re a coward,” she said.
The prosecutor read the statement of the parents of Alice Da Silva Aguiar, who said that the murder of their daughter “broke our souls”.
“We used to cook for three. Now we only cook for two. It doesn’t seem right,” they said. “Alice was our meaning in life, so what do we do now?”
