Victims’ families call for Southport killer’s parents to be held to account

The families of the three girls murdered by the Southport attacker have said his parents should be held to account for “allowing evil to exist unchecked under their own roof”.

On Thursday, the final day of evidence in the first phase of the Southport Inquiry, Alphonse Rudakubana and Laetitia Muzayire both gave their evidence via videolink, which could be heard but not seen by the public and press.

Their son, Axel Rudakubana, was 17 when he killed Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, and attempted to murder 10 others at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29 last year.

Ms Muzayire, who moved to the UK from Rwanda with her husband in 2002, read a prepared statement on behalf of her and her family, who she said had come to the inquiry with “broken hearts”.

She said: “There are many things that Alphonse and I wish we had done differently, anything that might have prevented the horrific event of July 29 2024.

“(For) our failure, we are profoundly sorry. We pray every day for the children and their families, and for God’s comfort to surround them.”

In a statement released after their evidence, Elsie’s parents Jenni and David Stancombe said they believed the parents should be held to account for what they allowed to happen.

They said: “Parents should be culpable when they knowingly allow such evil to exist unchecked under their own roof, when they know what their child is capable of and choose to do nothing.”

Alice’s parents, Alex and Sergio Aguiar, addressed Rudakubana’s parents in a statement which said: “You, as parents, had a duty — a fundamental and moral duty — to guide your child, to correct harmful behaviour and to ensure that no harm would come to others because of it. That duty was not upheld.

“Your failure to take responsibility, to act and to intervene when there were clear signs of danger, directly contributed to the devastating loss of our daughter’s life.

During his evidence, Mr Rudakubana said he was “desperately sorry” for the families of the victims.

Nicholas Bowen KC, representing the bereaved families, told him: “They have complete disdain for your excuses and the manner in which you have answered questions.”

Mr Bowen was stopped by inquiry chairman Sir Adrian Fulford, who told him: “That’s not appropriate at all.”

When asked by Mr Bowen if there was anything he wanted to say to the parents, Mr Rudakubana said: “I cry for them all the time because I have a reminder (of) my son, who turned to be a monster.

“When I cry for him, I remember them and cry for them.

“I’m so ashamed. I lost the courage to save their little angels. I’m so sorry.”

He said he still loved his son “so much” and told the inquiry: “I know he is dangerous but he is my son.”

He added: “I think the love I had for him overrode good judgment.”

Both parents said they believed Rudakubana had gone for a walk when he left their home in Old School Close, Banks, Lancashire, on the morning of the attack.

The teenager, who the inquiry heard had regular violent outbursts, had not left the house on his own since March 2022, apart from one week before the murders when his father stopped him from getting a taxi because he believed he was going to attack his old school.

Mr Rudakubana appeared to cry at one point during his evidence when he was asked if he feared his son would carry out an attack after realising he had left on the morning of July 29 2024.

He said: “The only hope I was hanging on to was that he didn’t take anything, he didn’t take a bag and I didn’t imagine that he would carry a knife somewhere else.

“I was just clinging on to the hope that he is going for a walk, if he was carrying a bag I would have ran out.”

He said he later learnt from a message from someone in his church group about the attack.

He said: “I immediately feared that AR could be involved.”

Ms Muzayire told the inquiry: “There’s no way I’d have ever thought that he was going to do any dreadful thing like this.

“At the time I didn’t know that he could do that.”

She apologised for “being naive”.

The inquiry heard in her statement she said after her son left the house she “lay back down on the bed and prayed that AR’s walk went well, that he would come back fine”.

The chairman’s report is expected to be published by next spring.