Grieving families label daughters’ killer ‘pure evil’ ahead of his sentencing
Axel Rudakubana is due to be sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday.
The grieving families of two of the Southport murder victims have branded their daughters’ killer as “pure evil” whose actions have left them in “continuous pain”.
Heart-rending victim impact statements from the mother of Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and the parents of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, were read to Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday ahead of Axel Rudakubana’s sentencing.
Alongside six-year-old Bebe King, the two girls were victims of “sadistic murders” carried out by Rudakubana at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the Hart Space on a small business park in the seaside town shortly before midday on July 29 last year.
Elsie’s mother, Jenny Stancombe, had her statement read to the court by prosecutor Deanna Heer KC, in which she described the 18-year-old killer as “cruel and pure evil” and said his attack was “the act of a coward”.
In her victim impact statement, Ms Stancombe said: “The nature of your actions is beyond contempt.
“You deliberately chose that place, fully aware that there would be no parents present, fully aware that those girls were vulnerable and unable to protect themselves.
“This was not an act of impulse, it was premeditated.”
Her statement continued: “We are not going to stand here and list everything you have taken away from us, because we refuse to give you the satisfaction of hearing it.
“We will not let you know anything about her because you don’t deserve to know the extraordinary person she was.
“You know what you have done, and we hope the weight of that knowledge haunts you every single day.”
Her final words for sentencing judge Mr Justice Goose were: “There is nothing that can undo the damage he has caused but knowing that he will never be free to cause any harm to vulnerable children again would give us a small measure of justice.
“Perhaps he will have the opportunity to contemplate the fear and terror he inflicted upon those girls, and we sincerely want the consequences to reflect the irreparable damage he has inflicted.”
Alice’s parents said in a separate statement: “Our dream girl has been taken away in such a horrible, undeserving way that it shattered our souls.”
In their statement Alexandra and Sergio Aguiar said of their daughter: “In a matter of minutes our worlds were shattered and turned upside down by the devastating attack on our Alice.
“A pin drop that changed our lives forever.
“We kept our hopes up every second during Alice’s 14-hour fight. But, once she had lost her fight, we lost our lives.”
Mr and Mrs Aguiar added: “Our life went with her. He took us too. Six months of continuous pain and a lifetime sentence. That’s what we got then and the life we live now.
“Our dream girl has been taken away in such a horrible, undeserving way that it shattered our souls.”
A number of victim impact statements were read to the court ahead of Rudakubana’s sentencing, including of class instructor Leanne Lucas who said: “I cannot give myself compassion or accept praise, as how can I live knowing I survived when children died.”
Before the statements were read, Ms Heer told the court the defendant was referred to Prevent for researching American school shootings, the London Bridge terror attack and uploading pictures of Colonel Gaddafi to Instagram.
Details of his background were read out, including an incident in October 2019 in which he contacted Childline and asked: “What should I do if I want to kill somebody?”
Mr Justice Goose ordered Rudakubana to be removed from the dock shortly after the start of the sentencing hearing because he had been repeatedly shouting.
One family member shouted “coward”, while others shook their heads as he left.
Horrific CCTV was played to the court including footage showing one child trying to leave the building but being pulled back in.
Gasps and sobs were heard from the public gallery as the girl was seen to re-emerge and collapse on the floor outside.
One woman in the public gallery put her hand over her face and sobbed, being comforted by those sitting next to her, as the video was played.
Family members were given the option to leave court before CCTV was played, but all remained in the court.
More than 30 members of the victims’ families were in the public gallery of the court for the sentencing and the court heard there were others in an annexe.
