'Rudakubana took our lives too', parents of nine-year-old Alice say

Families of the girls who were murdered by Axel Rudakubana and the other victims of his knife attack on a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport have told Liverpool Crown Court about the horrific impact on their lives.

Rudakubana is being sentenced for the three murders and ten attempted murders in July 2024.

• Follow live as Axel Rudakubana is sentenced

In court, families of the victims sat in the public gallery, some visibly upset, as their statements were read out.

Reporting restrictions protect the identities of the children who were injured, so they are referred to below using letters.

Warning: This article contains distressing and upsetting details.

A statement read out on behalf of Alexandra and Sergio Aguiar described how "in a matter of minutes our worlds were shattered and turned upside down by the devastating attack on our Alice".

"A pin drop that changed our lives forever," they said.

"Everything stopped still and we froze in time and space. Our life went with her. He took us too."

They said their daughter "was always a very kind girl, who valued equality and fairness at the core" and "a world of possibilities awaited her".

"We were so lucky and privileged to have her. Everyday felt like a gift," they said.

"Alice was a beautiful girl, perfect in every way. Loved her school., her friends. Music, dance, colourful pens and friendship bracelets. She loved Taylor Swift, Billie Eillish, and Sabrina Carpenter."

They described her as "a strong and confident pre-teen with a world of dreams and unlimited potential".

"Our bond was very strong, the love in the family was pure. Life was bliss.

They described how "life was bliss", and how they had a surprised trip to Disneyland planned and how that hot July day last year Alice had woken up excited to go to the workshop in the morning and to her friends to play in the garden and pool in the afternoon.

"It was a perfect plan for a perfect day," they said.

"This was the perfect start to her beautiful day, but also the worst."

"Our dream girl has been taken away in such a horrible, underserving way that it shattered our souls," the statement read.

"We're heartbroken that we can never help Alice fulfil her dreams, we can't hug her anymore, brush her hair, take her to school through her beloved Botanic Gardens

"We can no longer wake up with Alice's happy smile, being playful or get a morning kiss and hug from her.

"We would do anything to hold Alice one more time."

They described how it feels like they are stuck in a "horror movie" with "fear, anxiety, loss and terror... playing on a loop".

They described how it was "hard to feel happy, to enjoy the music and to see the good in life, when the centre of our universe has been taken".

"Any attempts to lighten up, a smile and a laugh are quickly met by regret and guilt," they said.

"How can we ever smile if Alice is not here?

"We will forever struggle to find a light and peace again.

"We will miss Alice forever, Her energy, contagious smile, assertive confidence and undeterred determination to find herself, grow into herself.

"She was brilliant, she was our everything. Living life without Alice is not living at all. It's a state of permanent numbness."

The mother of seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe described how she had lost her "best friend" when her daughter was murdered.

In a victim statement, read out on her behalf, Jenny Stancombe told Rudakubana he did not deserve to know "the extraordinary person" her daughter was.

"You know what you have done, and we hope the weight of that knowledge haunts you every single day," she said.

"The nature of your actions is beyond contempt.

"You deliberately chose that place, fully aware that there would be no parents present, fully aware that those girls were vulnerable and unable to protect themselves."

She said it was "not an act of impulse; it was premeditated".

"You chose that place, that time, and those circumstances, knowing that when we arrived, all we would see was the aftermath of the devastation caused, she said.

"We were robbed of the opportunity to protect our girls. If we had been there, this would never have happened, and the outcome would have been vastly different.

"What you did was not only cruel and pure evil; it was the act of a coward."

She said the family would honour Elsie Dot's memory, adding: "We will carry her love, positivity and her legacy forward, no matter how much pain you have caused".

Addressing Justice Goose in the statement she said: "He took our daughter, her life, her future, and everything she could have been.

"There is no greater loss, and no greater pain. His actions have left us with a lifetime of grief, and it is only right that he faces the same.

"There is nothing that can undo the damage he has caused, but knowing that he will never be free to cause any harm to vulnerable children again, would give us a small measure of justice.

"Perhaps he will have the opportunity to contemplate the fear and terror he inflicted upon those girls and we sincerely want the consequences to reflect the irreparable damage he has inflicted."

The mother of Child A told how her husband initially thought there had been a car accident when he went to pick his daughter up.

She described in a statement read to the court how her husband had arrived at the scene and could not find his daughter.

He was sent to a house where some of the girls had been taken and was told by his daughter's best friend that the man had dragged her back inside and she had not got away from the dance studio.

The girl's mother described how her family's "world collapsed in that moment and we are still trying to rebuild it".

She said her husband had compared the scene to "a warzone" and how he struggled to recognise his own child as her blonde hair was covered in blood.

"I know he is completely traumatised by what he experienced that day; he is broken by it," she said.

Their daughter was stabbed 30 times and was airlifted to hospital.

"We begged the doctors to save our baby girl and then sat helpless in a room waiting for over seven hours whilst she had lifesaving surgery on multiple stab wounds.

"She was in ICU for four days and had a second six-hour surgery the second day to try and save the use of her arms, hands and fingers.

"Her hair was so matted with blood I tried to brush it. The stench of dried blood in her hair will haunt me forever. I will never forget that smell."

She said her daughter had "permanent, horrific scars on her body that she will have for the rest of her life".

"She tells me 'I don't know who I am anymore' - No more crop tops, no more short sleeved t-shirts. No more swimwear, no more summer dresses.

"Our confident, happy, beautiful little dancer now has to sit three times a day whilst we care for her scars.

"In the hope that one day, when she wants to choose a wedding dress, or party dress for her 18th birthday, that they may have faded a little.

"That the nightmare they represent will have somehow been committed to memory and the visible signs won't be there anymore."

"Our daughter has not only experienced the most violent, frenzied attack on her body, but she's witnessed so much horror too.

"She watched two of the girls die. She saw her friends and teacher stabbed.

"Her entire childhood has been destroyed by what she experienced and although she survived, she now has to carry that with her for the rest of her life."

She said her daughter had "fought to get her life back", adding: "We could never be more proud of what she has achieved over the last six months.

"He has completely failed to destroy her spirit, her amazing sense of humour, her fierceness and her pure beautiful heart.

"We are honoured to be her parents."

The family of Child C said their daughter knows her scars "will be with me forever"

Their statement included comments from the girl, who was nine at the time of the attack, who said:

"It has been very hard to deal with what happened to me at Hart Space. I struggle with my emotions, and I have scars that I know will be with me forever, but I want to look forward.

"When people in school asked me, 'do you wish you weren't there that day?', I said that, in some ways, I wish I wasn't, but also, if I wasn't there, someone else would have been stabbed and they could have died, so I'm glad I might have stopped someone else getting hurt."

Her family said: "These are not the words that any little girl, who just liked yoga and making bracelets, should ever need to say.

"Her words both horrify us and make us immeasurably proud.

"Our daughter is strong. Our daughter is positive. Our daughter is brave. Our daughter is beautiful. Our daughter loves and is loved. Our daughter sees the best in everyone.

"Our daughter is everything that Axel Rudakubana is not.

"She is our hero."

A girl who was stabbed by Rudakubana during the attack addressed him directly via videolink, saying "you looked possessed and you didn't look human".

The girl, who cannot be legally identified due to her age and is known only as Child F, told Liverpool Crown Court she knew from his eyes "he wanted to kill us all".

She had attended the class with her sister, saying that a "sunny and warm" day turned into a "living nightmare".

Child F said: "The dance club was full of laughter and excitement all morning with the girls full of life.

"The beginning of my nightmare started when I saw you. I thought you were playing a joke.

"I saw you in your green hoody and face mask.

"The thing I remember most about you is your eyes. You looked possessed and you didn't look human."

She recalled watching him carrying out his attack and his approach to her feeling like "slow motion".

She said she remembered screams around her and experiencing "blind panic" and "screaming for the girls to get down the stairs".

Speaking to Rudakubana, she said: "I remember I was physically pushing them down the stairs to get them out of the building and get away from you.

"I knew I was running for my life.

"I knew from your eyes you wanted to try to kill us all."

Her injuries included fractures to her spine and a lung collapse but she said the mental strain was all encompassing.

She said: "Some of us are physically getting better, but we will all have to live with the mental pain from that day forever.

"I want you to know that you changed mine and my sister's lives forever but whilst you live behind bars alone, I will make sure that my sister and I, and our family will do our best to move forward with our lives."