A dance teacher who survived the knife attack in Southport in which three children were killed has said she is hoping her voice “will get louder and louder” after the trial of her alleged attacker.
Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Bebe King, six, were killed in an attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on 29 July, and 10 other people were injured, eight of them children.
Axel Rudakubana, now 18, is charged with three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and possession of a knife. Further charges were later added to his indictment, related to producing the poison ricin and possessing a military study of an al-Qaida training manual.
Speaking to LBC radio at a vigil for women and girls affected by male violence, Leanne Lucas, who was seriously injured as she tried to protect children during the attack, said the stabbing had left her “feeling like we just lost faith in the world”.
She said: “It made us feel very unsafe. My purpose was creating wellbeing events for children and families, and for that to happen where I was, and for the words I spoke and the children spoke, for that to be trampled over has just really dampened all of our spirits; feeling unsafe, feeling like we just lost faith in the world, really.”
The qualified yoga teacher, who regularly ran classes at the Hart Space venue where the attack happened, said it had left the victims and their families “connected by an invisible piece of string”.
“We’re all connected in the most horrible way. Sometimes that string will fray and tangle and knot, but at the best of times, it will wrap together and it’s brought a lot of us closer, creating kindness and warmth. And it’s created a strong force that almost we couldn’t have imagined would be possible out of something so horrific.”
She said she welcomed the support that had come from the community and farther afield.
“There has been a lot of love come from Southport, a lot of love come from all over the world. To be honest, the impact has been tragic, but there has been some glimmers, at times.”
Lucas, 35, has been unable to talk publicly in any detail about what happened to her, because of the upcoming trial of Rudakubana. Laws ensuring the right to a fair trial mean witnesses, victims and other members of the public need to wait until a verdict has been reached, or a perpetrator has pleaded guilty, to be able to talk openly about their ordeal. Failing to do so is contempt of court and can result in a trial being called off.
The dance teacher indicated she would like to speak out more, once the trial was over.
“Hopefully people will be hearing a lot more from me in the future, after everything’s happened and things are finished. I’m hoping my voice will get louder and louder and people will join me in that. I’m not too sure how we’ll ever move on, apart from use the girls’ memories as a driving force to change things for other people in the future, so this doesn’t have to happen to them again.”
A pre-trial hearing will take place on 12 December with the trial due to start in January.
