{"id":3843,"date":"2025-01-23T19:44:58","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T19:44:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/teen-who-killed-girls-at-taylor-swift-themed-dance-class-sentenced\/"},"modified":"2025-01-23T19:44:58","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T19:44:58","slug":"teen-who-killed-girls-at-taylor-swift-themed-dance-class-sentenced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/teen-who-killed-girls-at-taylor-swift-themed-dance-class-sentenced\/","title":{"rendered":"Teen Who Killed Girls at Taylor Swift-Themed Dance Class Sentenced"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

\n\tA teenager who\u00a0stabbed three young girls to death\u00a0at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England was sentenced Thursday to more than 50 years in prison for what a judge called \u201cthe most extreme, shocking and exceptionally serious crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJudge Julian Goose said 18-year-old\u00a0Axel Rudakubana\u00a0\u201cwanted to try and carry out mass murder of innocent, happy young girls.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tGoose said that he couldn\u2019t impose a sentence of life without parole, because Rudakubana was under 18 when he committed the crime.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut the judge said he must serve 52 years, minus the six months he\u2019s been in custody, before being considered for parole, and \u201cit is likely he will never be released.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRudakubana was 17 when he attacked the 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, ranging in age from 7 to 13, along with teacher Leanne Lucas and John Hayes, a local businessman who intervened.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe attack shocked the country and set off\u00a0both street violence and soul-searching. The government has announced a public inquiry into how the system failed to stop the killer, who had been referred to the authorities multiple times over his obsession with violence.<\/p>\n

\n\tDefendant disrupts the hearing<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tRudakubana faced three counts of murder, 10 of attempted murder and additional charges of possessing a knife, the poison ricin and an al-Qaida manual. He unexpectedly changed his plea to guilty on all charges on Monday.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut he wasn\u2019t in court to hear sentence passed on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\n\tHours earlier he had been led into the dock at Liverpool Crown Court in northwest England, dressed in a gray prison tracksuit. But as prosecutors began outlining the evidence, Rudakubana interrupted by shouting that he felt ill and wanted to see a paramedic.<\/p>\n

\n\tGoose ordered the accused to be removed when he continued shouting. A person in the courtroom shouted \u201cCoward!\u201d as Rudakubana was taken out.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe hearing continued without him.<\/p>\n

\n\tHorror on a summer day<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tProsecutor Deanna Heer described how the attack occurred on the first day of summer vacation when 26 little girls were \u201cgathered around the tables making bracelets and singing along to Taylor Swift songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRudakubana, armed with a large knife, intruded and began stabbing the girls and their teacher.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe court was shown video of the suspect arriving at the Hart Space venue in a taxi and entering the building. Within seconds, screams erupted and children ran outside in panic, some of them wounded. One girl made it to the doorway, but was pulled back inside by the attacker. She was stabbed 32 times but survived.<\/p>\n

\n\tGasps and sobs could be heard in court as the videos played.<\/p>\n

\n\tHeer said two of the dead children \u201csuffered particularly horrific injuries which are difficult to explain as anything other than sadistic in nature.\u201d One of the dead girls had 122 injuries, while another suffered 85 wounds.<\/p>\n

\n\tA teenager obsessed with violence<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThe prosecutor said Rudakubana had \u201ca longstanding obsession with violence, killing, genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHis only purpose was to kill. And he targeted the youngest and most vulnerable in society,\u201d she said, as relatives of the victims watched on in the courtroom.<\/p>\n

\n\tHeer said that when he was taken to a police station, Rudakubana was heard to say: \u201cIt\u2019s a good thing those children are dead, I\u2019m so glad, I\u2019m so happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe killings triggered days of anti-immigrant violence across the country after far-right activists seized on incorrect reports that the attacker was an asylum-seeker who had recently arrived in the U.K. Some suggested the crime was a jihadi attack, and alleged that police and the government were withholding information.<\/p>\n

\n\tRudakubana was born in Cardiff, Wales, to Christian parents from Rwanda, and investigators haven\u2019t been able to pin down his motivation. Police found documents about subjects including Nazi Germany, the Rwandan genocide and car bombs on his devices.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the years before the attack, he had been reported to multiple authorities over his violent interests and actions. All of the agencies failed to spot the danger he posed.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2019, he phoned a children\u2019s advice line to ask \u201cWhat should I do if I want to kill somebody?\u201d He said he had taken a 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.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe definition of terrorism<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tProsecutors said Rudakubana was referred three times to the government\u2019s anti-extremism program, Prevent, when he was 13 and 14 \u2014 once after researching school shootings in class, then for uploading pictures of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to Instagram and for researching a London terror attack.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut they concluded his crimes should not be classed as terrorism because Rudakubana had no discernable political or religious cause. Heer said \u201chis purpose was the commission of mass murder, not for a particular end, but as an end in itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPrime Minister Keir Starmer said this week the country must face up to a \u201cnew threat\u201d from violent individuals whose mix of motivations test the traditional definition of terrorism.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAfter one of the most harrowing moments in our country\u2019s history, we owe it to these innocent young girls and all those affected to deliver the change that they deserve,\u201d Starmer said after the sentencing.<\/p>\n

\n\tWrenching testimony from victims<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tSeveral relatives and survivors read emotional statements in court, describing how the attack had shattered their lives.<\/p>\n

\n\tLucas, 36, who ran the dance class, said that \u201cthe trauma of being both a victim and a witness has been horrendous.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI cannot give myself compassion or accept praise, as how can I live knowing I survived when children died?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n\tA 14-year-old survivor, who can\u2019t be named because of a court order, said that while she was physically recovering. \u201cwe will all have to live with the mental pain from that day forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI hope you spend the rest of your life knowing that we think you\u2019re a coward,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe prosecutor read out a statement from the parents of Alice Da Silva Aguiar, who said their daughter\u2019s killing had \u201cshattered our souls.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe used to cook for three. Now we only cook for two. It doesn\u2019t seem right,\u201d they said. \u201cAlice was our purpose for living, so what do we do now?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThis story was originally published by The Associated Press<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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