Southport Inquiry hears of moment mother was told ‘the kids have been stabbed’

A mother whose daughter was severely injured in the Southport attack has told a public inquiry of the moment her husband called her and said “the kids have been stabbed”.

The woman told the hearings her two daughters, who cannot be named, were present when Axel Rudakubana launched his attack and her eldest was seriously wounded by the 18-year-old.

A public inquiry, which resumed at Liverpool Town Hall on Monday, will examine Rudakubana’s dealings with relevant agencies before he killed Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and attempted to murder 10 others in the attack at a Taylor Swift-themed class on July 29 last year.

In the first of the impact evidence heard on Monday, the mother said her husband, who sat alongside her with his arm around her, returned to collect their teenage daughter and her younger sister from the studio on Hart Street and “couldn’t make sense of what was happening”.

She said: “He called me, his voice urgent.

“The words he spoke will never leave me: ‘You need to get here now. The kids have been stabbed’.

“Shock took over instantly. I couldn’t make sense of the words. I went to my neighbour to drive me to the scene, it was the slowest journey to get there.

“My husband meanwhile had entered the building, witnessing true horror that will stay with him forever, and been unable to locate our daughters.

“During his search he recalls time standing still, hearing screams and he then received a call from our eldest and located the girls at the neighbour’s house.

“He relives these moments daily.”

The woman said she arrived “to a scene reserved for nightmares”.

She added: “It felt as though I was watching from outside of my own body, like someone was living my life, within a film.

“Emergency services were everywhere, children lay hurt around me, I didn’t want to see. I didn’t want to know.”

Their eldest daughter suffered a chest wound and needed blood transfusions after being stabbed, the inquiry heard.

The woman said the summer was lived in “shock and survival mode”.

She added: “We hope this inquiry brings lessons and accountability so that no family has to suffer what we and others have suffered.

“Despite the evil act that has so heavily impacted us, we refuse to let it define us or our girls and their future.

“Together we will continue to create positive change and do everything we can to ensure safer communities for the next generation.”