A British teenager who killed three young girls in a frenzied stabbing spree sought video footage of the brutal attack on a Sydney bishop moments before he went on his rampage.
A court heard that on the day of the murders, violence-obsessed Axel Rudakubana searched online for information about the knife attack on Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel at the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley, Sydney, six months earlier.
It was the last thing he examined before starting his stabbing spree.
Judge Julian Goose sentenced Rudakubana to thirteen life sentences for the three murders and ten attempted murders. He said he considered it “highly likely that he will never be released” and ordered him to serve a minimum of 52 years.
The judge said Rudakubana's aim during his 15-minute appearance was the “mass murder of innocent, happy young girls.”
Had he not been stopped, “he would have killed every child — all 26 of them — as well as every adult who stood in his way,” he said.
Sobs and gasps were heard in court as prosecutor Deanna Heer detailed the rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class last July in Southport, north-west England.
Rudakubana, then 17, was heard saying after his arrest: “I'm glad they're dead,” Heer told the court.
Axel Rudakubana sneaks into the back of a taxi on his way to murder three young girls
The court heard that on the day of the murders, violence-obsessed Axel Rudakubana searched online for information about the knife attack on Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel at Sydney's Good Shepherd Church.
She described how he burst into the resort studio, where a group of young girls sat on the floor making bracelets and listening to Swift's blockbuster songs.
After his arrest, police found violent content on Rudakubana's devices, including images of dead bodies, torture victims, beheadings, cartoons depicting murder, violence and rape or insulting or mocking different religions.
He then traveled to the dance class location by taxi, armed with an 8-inch kitchen knife.
“Within 30 seconds you hear screaming from inside, followed by children fleeing the building,” Heer said.
Rudakubana, now 18, pleaded guilty on Monday to the murders of the three girls killed in the attack: Bebe King, aged six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar. Bebe was stabbed 122 times, the judge revealed.
“Our dream girl was taken away in such a horrible, undeserved way that it shattered our souls,” Aguiar's parents said in a statement to the court.
Stancombe's mother branded her daughter's killer 'cruel and evil' and said his actions were those of 'a coward'.
Rudakubana was twice ordered out of court by the judge after repeatedly shouting that he felt sick. He was not in court to hear the verdict because he refused to return.
And an undated family photo, released by Merseyside Police, of Ben, Lauren, Bebe, aged six, and Genie King (bottom right), aged nine. Bebe died during the attack on The Hart Space
Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, was one of three little girls killed in the attack in Southport
Living nightmare
Heer said dance teacher Heidi Liddle was sitting on the floor helping make bracelets on July 29 when she saw Rudakubana come in and “start jumping through the kids.”
She started to push them towards the exit, but after one of the girls ran to the toilet, she followed her and locked the door.
'Outside they heard children screaming, and then the door rattled. When she heard voices outside the door shouting for the accused to stop, she realized that not all the children had managed to escape,” Heer said, adding that some were stabbed in the back as they fled.
Some family members in the public gallery were in tears. Others sat with their heads in their hands and wiped their eyes as harsh security camera footage showed scared, screaming children fleeing the scene.
In victim impact statements read to the court, a 14-year-old survivor who was stabbed in the arm said the day had turned into a 'living nightmare'.
'What I remember most about you (Rudakubana) are your eyes. You didn't look human, you looked possessed,” she said.
Class instructor Leanne Lucas, 36, who was also injured, said she could no longer be home alone, go to work or walk down the street since the attack.
“The impact this has had on me can be summed up in one word: trauma,” she said. “He targeted us because we were women and girls, vulnerable and easy prey,” she added.
Rudakubana has also pleaded guilty to possessing a knife, producing a biological poison – ricin – and possessing an Al-Qaeda training manual.
The knife used in the attack
The killer depicted in a police mugshot
Riot
The teenager's rampage caused a wave of disgust in Britain. But viral disinformation that the perpetrator was a Muslim asylum seeker sparked anti-immigrant riots in more than a dozen English and Northern Irish towns and cities.
Rudakubana was actually born in Cardiff to parents of Rwandan descent, and lived in Banks, a village northeast of Southport.
His Christian churchgoing parents, both ethnic Tutsis, came to Britain in the years after the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Their church has said they are now in hiding for their protection.
The attack was not treated as a terror incident and he was never charged with terrorist offenses – prompting criticism from some.
Rudakubana was referred three times to the government's national anti-extremism programme, Prevent, over concerns about his obsession with violence.
A public inquiry has been announced to investigate how police, courts and social services failed to recognize the risk he posed.
