Teen who killed 3 girls at Taylor Swift’s dance class gets over 50 years – National
A teenager who stabbed three young girls to death at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England was sentenced Thursday to more than 50 years in prison.
Judge Julian Goth said 18-year-old Axel Rudakubana “wanted to try and commit the mass murder of innocent and happy young girls.”
Zyi Rudakubana said he could not impose a life sentence without parole because he was under 18 when he committed the crime.
But the judge said he would have to serve 52 years, minus the six months he spent in prison, and “probably never get paroled.”
Rudakubana was 17 when he went on a rampage with children in Southport in July, killing 9-year-old Alice Da Silva Aguirre, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6. He injured eight other girls aged between 7 and 13. Intervening local businessman along with teacher Leanne Lucas and John Hayes.
The attack shocked the country and set off both street violence and soul-searching. It will be remembered that the government asked the public how the system failed to stop the killer, and the killer was repeatedly presented to the authorities for his obsession with violence.
The accused disturbs the trial.
Rudakubana is charged with three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder, and additional charges of possession of a knife, ricin poison, and al-Qaeda instruction. At his arraignment on Monday, he unexpectedly changed his plea to all charges.
But he was not in court to hear the sentence handed down on Thursday.
Hours earlier, he was led to a dock at Liverpool Crown Court in north-west England, dressed in a gray prison suit. But as prosecutors began to present evidence, Rudakubana interrupted, shouting that he was sick and wanted to see a doctor.
As the goose continued to scream, he ordered the defendant to be removed. A man in the courtroom shouted, “Coward!” he shouted. Rudakubana as taken.
The trial continued without him.
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Scary on a summer day
Prosecutor Diana Herr described how the attack happened on the first day of summer break when 26 girls “gathered around a table making bracelets and singing along to Taylor Swift songs”.
Armed with a large knife, Rudakubana barges in and starts stabbing the girls and their teacher.
The court was shown a video showing the suspect arriving at Hart Space in a taxi and entering the building. Within seconds, there was an outcry and children ran outside in fear, some injured. A girl reaches the door, but is turned back in by the attacker. She was stabbed 32 times but survived.
Screams and sobs could be heard in the courtroom as the videos played.
Herr said two of the children who died “suffered particularly traumatic injuries that are difficult to explain other than tragic in nature.” One of the dead girls sustained 122 injuries and the other sustained 85 injuries.
A teenager obsessed with violence
“He had a long-term obsession with violence, murder, genocide,” said prosecutor Rudakubana.
“The intention was only to kill. And he targeted the youngest and most vulnerable in society,” she said as relatives of the victims looked on in the courtroom.
As Herr was taken to the police station, Rudakubana was heard saying: “It’s a good thing these kids are dead, I’m very happy, I’m very happy.”
The killing sparked days of anti-immigrant protests across the country after the attack was mistakenly attributed to an asylum seeker who had recently arrived in England, with some accusing police and prosecutors of the crime as a jihadist attack. The government was withholding information.
Rudakubana was born in Cardiff, Wales to Christian parents from Rwanda, and investigators have been unable to determine his motivations. Police found documents on the devices on subjects including Nazi Germany, the Rwandan genocide and car bombs.
In the years leading up to the attack, his violent tendencies and actions were reported to several authorities. All the agencies could not understand the danger he caused.
In the year In 2019, “What should I do if I want to kill someone?” He called the Children’s Helpline to ask. He said he took a knife to school because he wanted to kill the bully. Two months later, he attacked a fellow student with a hockey stick and was convicted of assault.
Definition of terrorism
Prosecutor Rudakubana was sent to the government’s counter-extremism program three times when he was 13 and 14 years old – once after studying school shootings, then for uploading photos of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to Instagram and researching the London terror attacks. .
However, Rudakubana did not have any political or religious reasons, so they concluded that the crime he committed should not be classified as terrorism. “The intent was not to commit mass murder for a specific purpose, but as an end in itself,” Herr said.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said this week the country must face a “new threat” from individuals whose motivations are mixed.
“After one of the most troubling times in our country’s history, we owe it to these innocent young girls and all those affected to bring about the change they deserve,” Starmer said after the verdict.
Shocking testimony from the victims
He read emotional statements in court from several relatives and survivors describing how the attack had shattered their lives.
“Being a victim or a witness, the trauma is devastating,” said Lucas, 36, who ran a dance class.
“How can I live knowing that I have to survive when children die? I can’t give myself pity or accept gratitude?” she said
The 14-year-old, who cannot be named due to a court order, said she is recovering physically. From that day on, we all have to live with mental illness forever.
“I hope you spend the rest of your life knowing we think you’re a coward,” she said.
The prosecutor read a statement from Alice da Silva Aguirre’s parents, who said their daughter’s killing had “broken our hearts”.
“We used to cook for three. Now we cook only for two. “It doesn’t seem right.” “Alice was our purpose for living, so what do we do now?”