Southport killer’s father tells inquiry he takes ‘share’ of responsibility

The father of the Southport killer has told a public inquiry he bears his “share of the responsibility” for the attack but said he was frightened of his teenage son.

Giving evidence to Liverpool Town Hall 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.

In a statement, he said the combination of fear and “the desire to avoid confrontation” prevented him from doing things expected of a parent, such as monitoring his internet activities or inquiring about items he ordered online.

He added: “This had catastrophic consequences for which I am desperately sorry.”

He went on to say: “I accept that I bear my share of the responsibility and that by not challenging AR’s behaviour he was allowed to acquire dangerous weapons and view inappropriate content online.”

Nicholas Moss KC, counsel to the inquiry, asked if he accepted he should have exercised more responsibility over Rudakubana.

Mr Rudakubana said: “I tried before and he was violent.”

He told the inquiry of an incident in early 2024 when his son “poured a significant quantity of oil” over his head and threatened to kill him.

He said: “His eyes were very red and it seemed he had some kind of mental anguish, some kind of mental pain.”

Mr Rudakubana said that his son poked his chest and said “if you get me out of here, this house, it may take a day, a week, or it may be years, I will kill you and trust me I will kill you”.

“He looked seriously at me and it was quite frightening actually,” he said.

The inquiry heard Rudakubana was permanently excluded from Range High School in October 2019 after he admitted in a call to Childline that he had taken a knife to school on 10 occasions.

Mr Rudakubana accepted he later complained to Childline about breaching his son’s confidentiality.

He said: “He went to them asking for help because he was struggling with dark thoughts that he was having of using a knife and they reported him to the police.”

Mr Moss suggested that instead of helping agencies who were trying to deal with his son’s violence he “went on the attack” and undermined them.

Mr Rudakubana replied: “Our son was permanently excluded and I knew that things were going to get worse, and they have.”

After his exclusion, Rudakubana was sent to pupil referral unit The Acorns School.

Headteacher Joanne Hodson told the inquiry in earlier evidence Rudakubana’s parents did not “flinch” during a meeting when the teenager said he had taken a knife to school and intended to use it.

Mr Rudakubana denied that and said they were “dying inside” because of what had happened.

“We sent a beautiful boy who was capable, who was very well dressed, who looked after himself, to Range High,” he said.

“By the time they sent him back to us he was broken, disappointed, traumatised, changed completely beyond belief so now we are dealing with a different AR at Acorns.”

He said he thought referrals to the Government’s anti-terror programme Prevent by the Acorns were “malicious”, but by the time of the first referral, in December 2019, he had “lost control” of his son.

He said: “I had no authority as a father.”

Mr Rudakubana said he was not aware that on a tablet at home his son was accessing images of torture, antisemitic and anti-Islamic material and images of Nazi mass graves.

He said: “Nobody knew at home.”

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

The inquiry was adjourned until Thursday, when he and his wife Laetitia Muzayire will give evidence.