The Cardiff-born black British 17-year-old boy, Axel Rudakubana Southport child killer, who murdered three little girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport has been named Axel Rudakubana.
Born in Cardiff to Rwandan parents, Axel Rudakubana had been residing in the village of Banks, just outside of Southport, at the time of the incident. Reports state that his older sibling was also born in the Welsh capital.
Axel Rudakubana murdered Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, with a kitchen knife on Monday after entering the class on Hart Street in Southport, Merseyside. Eight other children sustained knife wounds – with five of them left in critical condition – while two adults were also critically hurt.
Axel Rudakubana has been charged with three counts of murder, ten charges of attempted murder and a charge of possession of a bladed article.
It is still unknown whether the attack by Axel Rudakubana was racially motivated or religious.
The public would never have known that the attack was by a black youth if it had not been for the riots occurring due to the assumption that the attacker was a Muslim. However, this assumes that a black youth is not Muslim, which is a ridiculous assumption.
Judge Menary KC stated, lifting the anonymity restriction at Liverpool Crown Court, that one reason it was in the public interest for his name to be revealed was the “idiotic rioting” in areas of the UK following the incident.
Remanding Axel Rudakubana in adolescent jail, the judge noted maintaining the defendant’s anonymity ran the danger of “allowing others up to mischief to continue to spread disinformation in a vacuum.”
The defendant is expected to turn eighteen on Wednesday; the judge noted that this could offer “additional excuse for a fresh round of public disturbance.”
Declaring the accusations against Rudakubana as “shocking” and that they “could hardly be more serious,” he said the public had a “genuine and proper interest in the identity of the defendant” and that letting the press name him would be “assisting to dispel misinformation that exists, especially online.”
The ruling to let the public know who had slaughtered their children followed false claims and erroneous identities—that of a Muslim immigrant arrested for murder—shared online following the incident and following police-far-right rioter conflicts. cops intervened when protestors targeted a mosque in Southport on Tuesday night, resulting in five arrests following unrest whereby missiles were hurled, and cops suffered minor injuries.
Any anonymity would have vanished immediately when the defendant turned eighteen next week, allowing news coverage of him. Under section 45 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999, judges can impose anonymity orders in youth matters, safeguarding defendant safety. Menary, however, claimed he was happy with Axel Rudakubana’s safety in young custody. Axel Rudakubana younger picture below:
The barristers for both the prosecution and the defence claimed that Axel Rudakubana’s anonymity should remain until next week to give the police more time to implement policies meant to keep his parents and twenty-year-old older brother safe. Menary claimed he knew the family had already been relocated for their safety.
The names of the eight injured children, two of whom were released from Alder Hey Children’s Hospital on Thursday morning, are still protected by an automatic reporting restriction and, therefore, cannot be published.
Axel Rudakubana wore his sweatshirt, pushed up to his hairline, and covered his face for the 55-minute hearing. He turned back from side to side occasionally and refused to talk, including to confirm his identity. He will next appear at Liverpool Crown Court on October 25, and a six-week provisional trial will be set for January 20.
Menary addressed the defendant, who ignored the judge and kept his head down: “You are sent to an adolescent detention facility until these procedures have been finished. That stance can change when you rapidly reach your [age of] majority.
UPDATE 29.10.24
After waiting months until the protests died down the Police have released that the attack was a suspected terror one and the killer is a suspected Islamist.
UPDATE 20.01.25
Axel Rudakubana is in court and has pleaded guilty to killing the girls. He did this on purpose so that the families of his victims would not be present to hear him admit his crimes. He was expected to not offer a plea.
The police are doing all they can to try and make sure that terrorism is not mentioned in the media as a reason for the killings of the three innocent girls.
UPDATE 23.01.25
Axel Rudakubana, the Southport murderer, has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum period of 52 years for the “sadistic” killings of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance lesson.
The 18-year-old confessed to the murder of Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9, during a knife assault last July.
He also endeavoured to murder eight additional youngsters, whose identities are protected for legal reasons, as well as class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.
Rudakubana was sentenced in absentia at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday after suggesting he would be “disruptive” if compelled to attend the proceedings.
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