Southport killer Axel Rudakubana has been jailed for 52 years after brutally murdering three young girls in a frenzied knife attack last year.
The “sadistic” 18-year-old, who had an obsession with violence, genocide and massacres, was given the life sentence at a packed out courtroom at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday.
Throughout the sentencing, Rudakubana repeatedly interrupted the judge by claiming he needed a paramedic, as more than 30 members of his victims’ families sat in the public gallery.
Despite this, the court heard the heart-rending victim impact statements of parents of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, who died in the onslaught.
The court also heard from a number of survivors, including the Taylor Swift-themed dance class instructor Leanne Lucas, 36, who said she has suffered scars she “cannot move on from”.
Here, The Independent has put together some of the heartbreaking victim impact statements read out at the court.
Family of Elsie Dot Stancombe
Elsie’s mother, Jenny Stancombe, described the attack as “the act of a coward” and said Rudakubana was “cruel and pure evil”.
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.”
Family of Alice da Silva Aguiar
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 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.”
Dance class instructor Leanne Lucas
Ms Lucas told of living in constant fear since the attack, unable to feel safe at work or in public places and said she can not give herself compassion or accept praise, adding: “How can I live knowing I survived when children died?”
She said it left her unable to trust society, revealing the “badness” lurking in plain sight and altering her mindset to believe harm can happen to anyone.
The 36-year-old told the court that she dedicated her life to helping children and families, creating a safe community, but the attack robbed her of her role, purpose and sense of trust in herself.
Ms Lucas said: “On that day, I received several injuries that have not only affected me physically but also mentally. I, as do the girls, have scars we cannot unsee, scars we cannot move on from.”
