Southport killer’s father feared he would be taken away, inquiry hears

The father of the Southport killer feared his son would be taken away from him after violent outbursts at home, he has told the public inquiry.

Giving evidence from a remote location on Wednesday, Alphonse Rudakubana told the inquiry his son, Axel Rudakubana, would have “random” outbursts of violence, sometimes twice a day.

Rudakubana murdered Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven; Bebe King, six; and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, in his attack on a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29 last year.

Mr Rudakubana said the violence became worse when Rudakubana was excluded from the Range High School in October 2019 after admitting to taking a knife to school.

In a statement, he said: “I became conditioned to his behaviour, allowed him to abuse and assault me and to cause damage at home without response because this was the only way of getting through the day.

“AR’s outbursts would blow over quite quickly and would be followed by a period of relative calm.

“I am ashamed that this was my response and I felt demeaned but I did not know what else to do.”

Asked if he was concerned that Rudakubana would be taken away from him if he reported all the incidents of violence, he said: “The concern in my mind was I had a vulnerable child.”

Asked again, by inquiry chairman Sir Adrian Fulford, if he was concerned his son would be taken away from him, he said: “Yes.”

Mr Rudakubana said he cried on Tuesday night after hearing evidence from his eldest son, Dion Rudakubana, 21, about his experience of violence in the home.

The inquiry was told of four incidents of violence in November 2021, including two which police were called to.

Mr Rudakubana said he would not have phoned the police about the first incident, but his wife, Laetitia Muzayire, found it “traumatic”.

Mr Rudakubana said: “I experienced it more often.”

He said he did not tell child and mental health services (CAMHS) about the incident because he expected police to share the details of the call with other agencies.

The last incident that month happened after Rudakubana became angry because he didn’t like food his father had cooked, he said.

He told the inquiry he rang the police on that occasion because Rudakubana damaged a rental car.

Mr Rudakubana, who was born in Rwanda and moved to the UK in 2002, was only seen during his evidence by the inquiry team, with members of the public, press and other participants only hearing an audio feed.

He is due to continue his evidence on Wednesday afternoon.