'I knew I was running for my life': How the Southport attack unfolded456d6be0-d9bd-11ef-abf7-8b2a99c77ef2.jpg.webp
EPA pays floral tribute to Southport stabbing victimsEPA
"The dance club was filled with laughter and excitement," is how a 14-year-old girl described the atmosphere as a group of 26 children gathered for a Taylor Swift-themed class in Southport.
Her summer holidays had begun and the sun was shining in the city as her parents dropped her off. When classes began, July 29, 2024, had all the makings of a good day.
The attack that followed saw Axel Rudakubana sentenced to a minimum of 52 years in prison. At his sentencing on Thursday, details of how the incident unfolded from the perspective of those involved were revealed to the public for the first time. While the girls were making friendship bracelets, a taxi driver kicked a passenger out of the classroom, who had just left after refusing to pay.
The passenger, a teenager, was not dressed for the weather: the hood of his large green hoodie was pulled tightly over his face and he was wearing a surgical mask. He had an 8-inch kitchen knife in his pocket.
Axel Rudakubana initially didn't know how to get into the studio and was captured on CCTV struggling with a locked door – but then he noticed another entrance and went inside.
It was, as one child survivor put it, "the beginning of my nightmare." Warning: This article contains disturbing and disturbing details.
"It was not a joke"
Evidence gathered during the dance lesson confirms that Rudakubana moved with calm and determination.
He had been planning this moment for some time. He did not hesitate, grabbing and holding the girl closest to the door as soon as she entered.
When Rudakubana attacked, he did not say a word. It took a moment for those in the room to realize what was happening.
"I thought the man who stabbed me was a guard," said one of the juvenile victims.
It must have been a joke, he thought, but then he said, "I realized it wasn't a joke when I saw the blood coming out."
His memories of what happened next are "fuzzy," but the boy said he remembers thinking, "I don't want to die, I have to get out of here."
Another victim said the image of Rudakubana in his memory was that of a monster roaming the studio. In court, she later told her killer: "What I remember most about you is your eyes.
"You look possessed and you don't look human."
Rudakubana was outside when she went to open a window to let some air into the hot dance studio.
She didn't pay attention until the door opened and he appeared.
What happened next, she said, left her and the girls with "scars we can't erase, wounds we can't heal."
The horror of what was unfolding only became fully clear when she was stabbed in the back. Then she told the girls, "I'm surviving for you."
Heidi Liddle, who also supervised the class, sat on the floor helping the children make friendship bracelets.
By the time she realized what was happening, the rapid attack had already caused incalculable damage.2a6bdba0-d9be-11ef-abf7-8b2a99c77ef2.jpg.webp
Heidi sprang into action and began trying to get the girls out the door.
One girl ran to the bathroom across the board and followed her. Heidi closed the door behind them and hugged herself. "Don't make a noise," she told the girl.
And then the door slammed shut. Rudakubana was still looking for victims.
Outside, she heard the screams of the children who had not managed to escape. "Running for my life"
Rudakubana set out to kill as many children as possible: by the end of the 15-minute rampage, two girls were dead and another was dying.
Eight other children and two adults were stabbed. Some were fighting for their lives.
Without the girls' quick thinking and courage, more people would surely have died.
One child recalls that the world seemed to move in "slow motion" as Rudakubana advanced on her, attacking her friends as she crossed the room. Instinct took over.
He recalls how he "physically pushed" his friends who were still able to run as they descended the stairs.
When confronted by Rudakubana in court as he read his statement, he told her: "I knew I was running for my life.
"I knew from your eyes that you were trying to kill us all."
When he was sentenced, the judge concluded that if Rudakubana could have done it, he would have killed every child present - and anyone who got in his way.
One of the children who survived that day was stabbed 30 times. She was rushed to hospital and doctors operated on her for six hours to try to save the use of her arms, hands and fingers.
"She saw two of the girls die," the parents told investigators.
In one case, during her recovery, the child told her parents: "I don't know who I am anymore."
But six months later, she is struggling. Her mother said: "We could never be more proud of what she has done in the last six months."
"It absolutely failed to destroy her spirit, her incredible sense of humour, her fierceness and her pure and beautiful heart."
The Southport survivors are slowly rebuilding their lives. The investigators who handled the case said they were amazed by her courage and resilience.
This was amply demonstrated when one girl was asked what she said when her classmates asked her if she wished she hadn't been there that day.
"In some ways, I wish I hadn't been there," she told them.
"But also, if I hadn't been there, someone else would have been stabbed and could have died - so I'm glad I was able to prevent someone else from getting hurt."
[attachment deleted by admin]