The man who "savagely killed" three young girls during a stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class for children in the small town of Southport, England last July has been sentenced to a minimum of 52 years in jail.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, pleaded guilty on Monday to three counts of murder, ten counts of attempted murder, one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, one count of possessing terrorist material, and one count of producing toxin ricin.
According to the BBC, after being ejected from Liverpool Crown Court for shouting over the prosecution and otherwise disrupting proceedings, Rudakubana was asked back in to hear his fate. He declined, and Justice Goose read his sentence anyways.
Goose explained that because Rudakubana was a minor when he committed the crimes, he could not be sentenced to life. The justice emphasized, however, that under different circumstances, he would have handed down such a punishment.
Over the course of the day, he families of the deceased, 9-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar, 6-year-old Bebe King, and 7-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe, as well as those who survived, read victim impact statements detailing the horror they experienced.
Prosecutors were unable to find adequate evidence that the attack was terrorism, noting that, "evidence suggests that the defendant’s purpose was the commission of mass murder as an end in itself." Rudakubana at one point said, "I'm glad they're dead."
It was revealed that Stancombe had been stabbed 85 times, and King 122 times. Aguiar was found with extensive injuries to her head and ribs. One of the survivors was stabbed 32, and had been pulled back inside the room after initially escaping.
The incident took place shortly after 11:30 a.m. on July 29, 2024 at the Hope of Hart children's club on Hart Street in Southport, about 30 km north of Liverpool. After entering the establishment, Rudakubana stabbed Aguiar, King, and Stancombe along with eight other children and two adults. All were rushed to hospital, however only the latter ten survived.
In the days that followed, protests erupted across the country as Brits called for action from elected officials to crack down on violence.
It has since been revealed that Rudakubana had allegedly planned on carrying out a massacre at nearby Range High School a week earlier, but had been stopped by his father before departing in a taxi.