Bravery of girls who protected each other in Southport attack praised at inquiry

Girls injured in the attack on a Southport dance class showed a “a level of bravery no child should ever need to show” as they protected each other from Axel Rudakubana, a public inquiry has heard.

Giving impact evidence to the Southport Inquiry at Liverpool Town Hall on Tuesday, one mother told of how her eldest daughter protected her younger sister on July 29 last year.

Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were killed in the attack at the Taylor Swift-themed class when Rudakubana, 18, also attempted to murder eight other children and two adults.

The woman, whose daughters were referred to as child C2 and C7, said her eldest, who had already been stabbed, saw “pure fear” on her sister’s face as she crouched while Rudakubana stood over her with his knife raised.

She said: “Our eldest, just a child herself and already injured, dragged her sister in front of her to protect her.”

Their eldest daughter was stabbed again before the girls scrambled to escape and became separated, she told the inquiry.

She said: “In the scramble to get out our youngest had become stuck with two other little girls on the landing, there were no adults with them at this time.

“On the landing, one of the little girls grabbed her hand and put it on the railing, she told her to run and that is when he stabbed her in the back.

“She was able to run down the stairs and she escaped. They called her the ‘little girl who entered the house last’.

“That was our youngest, she saved herself, guided by another child’s hand, and protected by her big sister’s bravery.”

She said both girls showed “a level of bravery no child should ever need to show” and now lived with “trauma that no child should carry”.

Another mother told the inquiry her daughter, child C4, was one of the last girls to escape the building alive and “had to advocate for herself and find her own way out”.

She said: “She tells us vividly about how she chose to wait and allow others out first because she had already been attacked and didn’t want them to be.

“She told them to run and not scream – advice she remembered being told when there had been a gas leak at her school.

“Clustered at the top of the stairs, she was attacked again.”

After she escaped and was sheltered in a house, she was checking on others and comforting them despite “bleeding profusely” from her injuries, her mother said.

She told the inquiry: “There are so many of these stories of heroism from all of the girls that day.

“Stories which show just what warriors they were to face such extreme adversity alone, with only each other to help them through.

“It is our solemn promise to our girl that these are the stories that will be remembered.

“The stories of how kind, strong and incredibly brave she was, how she helped save others and tried to bring comfort even when she was suffering herself.”

Other parents told the inquiry of the bravery of their traumatised girls as they try to recover their childhoods.

Child R’s mother said her daughter, aged under 10, is frequently crippled by anxiety and fear, and endures terrifying nightmares and panic attacks.

But with extra support and reassurance, she passed a significant milestone by taking part in her annual dance class show.

“She got back up on that stage and we could not have been prouder,” the child’s mother said.

“She shows an extraordinary level of determination and bravery every time she attends an activity that she once looked forward to without hesitation.

“There must be consequences, difficult conversations and decisions that protect our children.”

The first phase of the inquiry, expected to run until November, will examine Rudakubana’s history and his dealings with relevant agencies, along with any missed opportunities to prevent what happened.

The hearing was adjourned until Wednesday morning.