Axel Rudakubana, 18, pleaded guilty to murdering three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, England. The parents of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, one of the victims, delivered a heartbreaking victim impact statement, describing the impact of her loss on their lives.
The parents of a nine-year-old girl murdered in a Taylor Swift-themed dance class attack in Southport have described the tragedy as shattering their souls. Axel Rudakubana , 18, from Lancashire, is facing sentencing after pleading guilty to murdering three girls on Monday, the day his trial was due to begin. Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were killed in the attack on a class at a small business park in the seaside town.
Rudakubana also admitted 10 counts of attempted murder and possessing a kitchen knife during the July 29 attack in Merseyside. Alice's parents, Alexandra and Sergio Aguiar, were in court as their victim impact statement was read aloud by the prosecutor. They spoke of their daughter as a 'beautiful girl, perfect in every way,' who loved her school, friends, music, dance, colorful pens, and friendship bracelets. 'She loved Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Sabrina Carpenter,' the statement says, adding that Alice was 'strong and confident' with 'a world of dreams and unlimited potential.' Alice, who was due to be surprised with a trip to Disneyland later in the year, woke up 'really excited' to go to the dance class where she was fatally stabbed. They say their world was 'shattered and turned upside down.' 'Our life went with her. He took us too,' the statement says. 'Our dream girl has been taken in such a horrible, undeserving way that it shattered our souls.' They said they would do anything to hold their daughter one more time: 'It feels like we're stuck in a five-dimensional horror movie.' The statement reads: 'Alice was our purpose for living. So what do we do now?' Another victim impact statement, read from the mother of Elsie Dot Stancombe, called Rudakubana a 'coward' and said he didn't deserve to hear about her daughter, whom she described as the family's 'best friend.' Jenni Stancombe said she and her family would not list everything Rudakubana had taken away from them, refusing to give him 'the satisfaction.' She called the killer 'beyond contempt,' and said he targeted victims who could not protect themselves. 'We were robbed of the opportunity to protect our girls,' the statement said. Addressing the judge, she said: 'He took our daughter. There's no greater loss and no greater pain. He has left us with a lifetime of grief.' She said she hoped Rudakubana uses his time in prison to 'reflect on the gravity of what he has done' but said 'if we go from his actions and behaviour during this process we have little faith that he will ever feel the remorse he should.' 'You know what you have done and we hope the weight of that knowledge haunts you every day,' her statement said. The yoga teacher present during the attack, who was stabbed in the back, told the court she couldn't give herself 'compassion or accept praise' as how can I live knowing I survived when children died?' Leanne Lucas, 36, said all she wanted to do was make a 'positive impact' but has now lost her job as she can no longer provide 'guidance and reassurance to anyone.' 'I feel like I can no longer be trusted again,' she says. 'I can never feel that level of responsibility again where there may be dangers to others.' Ms Lucas was injured physically but says, like the surviving girls, she has 'scars we cannot move on from.' 'To discover that he had always set out to hurt the vulnerable is beyond comprehensible. For Alice, Elsie, Bebe, Heidi, and the surviving girls, I'm surviving for you.' The emotional father of a nine-year-old girl who was stabbed but survived read out a victim impact statement on behalf of the family. He says his daughter told him: 'When people in school asked me: 'Do you wish you weren't there that day?' I said that, in some ways, I wish I wasn't, but also, if I wasn't there, someone else would have been stabbed and they could have died, so I'm glad I might have stopped someone else getting hurt'. 'These are not the words that any little girl, who just liked yoga and making bracelets, should ever need to say. Her words both horrify us and make us immeasurably proud.' Addressing Rudakubana (who was not present), another surviving girl said: 'You didn't look human, you looked possessed.' One father said he did not recognize his injured daughter when he went to pick her up from the class, because she had been so badly injured. On Thursday, Rudakubana had to be removed from court twice after trying to disrupt proceedings, shouting that he had chest pains and wanted to be seen by a paramedic. 'I can't remain quiet,' he shouted, shortly before the judge asked him to leave the first time.
Taylor Swift Dance Class Murder Axel Rudakubana Southport England Victim Impact Statement Crime
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