Parents of Southport murder victims share ‘permanent numbness’ after ‘pure evil’

The parents of two of the girls killed by Axel Rudakubana have described being in “a state of permanent numbness” and facing a “lifetime of grief” after an act of “pure evil”.

Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, died when Rudakubana attacked a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the Hart Space on a small business park in Southport shortly before midday on July 29 last year.

The 18-year-old also attempted to murder eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.

Victim impact statements from Alice’s and Elsie’s families were read to Liverpool Crown Court ahead of Rudakubana’s sentencing on Thursday.

Elsie’s mother, Jenny Stancombe, described the attack as “the act of a coward” and said Rudakubana was “cruel and pure evil”.

In her statement, read to the court by prosecutor Deanna Heer KC, 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.

“This was not an act of impulse, it was premeditated.”

Ms Stancombe said the attack had “stolen” her daughter from her but that it would “not take away our determination to honour her memory”.

Her statement continued: “We are not going to stand here and list everything you have taken away from us, because we refuse to give you the satisfaction of hearing it.

“We will not let you know anything about her because you don’t deserve to know the extraordinary person she was.

“You know what you have done and we hope the weight of that knowledge haunts you every day.”

Addressing sentencing judge Mr Justice Goose, Ms Stancombe added: “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.”

In a separate statement read out in court afterwards, Alexandra and Sergio Aguiar said their daughter Alice’s death had “shattered our souls”.

They said: “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.

“We kept our hopes up every second during Alice’s 14-hour fight.

“But, once she had lost her fight, we lost our lives.”

Mr and Mrs Aguiar said they had planned to surprise Alice with a trip to Disneyland in October and that she was due to visit a friend’s house in the afternoon after the fateful dance class in what seemed like “a perfect plan for a perfect day”.

They said: “Our life went with her. He took us too. Six months of continuous pain and a lifetime sentence.

“That’s what we got then and the life we live now.”

The parents described Alice as a “beautiful girl, perfect in every way” who loved Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Sabrina Carpenter and had “a world of dreams and unlimited potential.”

Mr and Mrs Aguiar added: “Living without Alice is not living at all.

“It’s a state of permanent numbness.

“We can’t see her picture and videos, they take us back to a time when we were so happy and now we’re in constant pain.

“We have her clothes, her teddies and other belongings.

“We’ll keep them safe and often hug them when we miss Alice.”