Southport attack ‘wouldn’t have happened’ if I’d reported knife delivery – but I was too scared, says killer’s father
The father of the Southport attacker has said he regrets not telling police about the machete being delivered to his family’s home, adding that the attack “would not have happened” if he had reported it.
Giving evidence to the Southport Inquiry on the second day, Alphonse Rudakubana said that he hid the knife from Axel Rudakubana but did not ask his son any questions about it.
Axel Rudakubana, then 17, killed seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe, six-year-old Bebe King and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29 last year.
The inquest heard Mr Rudakubana knew the package, delivered in June 2023, contained a weapon because it was heavy and “knife-shaped”.
But when investigating lawyer Nicholas Moss KC asked why he did not open the door, the father said “it wasn’t my property” and added that he was “scared of it”.
He asked: “Well, after seizing the package AR saw that it was a knife or a sharp object, he specifically asked for it, he did not react violently to it, why didn’t you open it to check what your son actually bought?”
Mr Rudakubana replied: “I already knew it was a knife, I didn’t want to see it and it would have been good if I had opened it because that would have prompted me to call the police because he would have done something bad.”
The inquest also heard:
• Alphonse Rudakubana did not want information about his son to be shared with the youth team
• Alphonse Rudakubana added there would be an “immediate violent response” if he tried to gain control over his son
• A consultant psychiatrist who worked with the Southport attacker did not feel “safe” pursuing the case because of his father’s behaviour, accusing him of being “intimidating and disrespectful” as well as “verbally aggressive and physically intimidating”.
• Mr Rudakubana admitted withholding “some information” about his son from mental health services
• He also said he did not know that the second delivery to his home in October 2023 contained another machete, even though the packaging said “age verification, 18 years and over” and listed “knife depot” as the return address.
• After blocking a taxi to take his son to his old school for a possible attack on July 22, 2024, Mr. Rudakubana texted his wife saying “our child needs to be protected.”
• Mr Rudakubana said he “hoped for the best” when his son left home on the day of the Southport attack. The inquest heard that when he received a text from a member of his church about an attack in Southport, he “immediately feared” his son might be involved.
The attacker’s father stated that he was “very sorry” and said that he “should call the police”.
He said: “I regret not telling the police because if I had it wouldn’t have happened on the 29th.
“They would come and check everything in his room.”
She admitted she was “embarrassed” and accepted “responsibility” for not reporting her son’s actions. But she said it “took a lot of courage” to report her son.
He believes that her lack of action “encouraged him to order more things.”
A week before the attack on July 29 last year, the attacker’s father found poison (later revealed to be ricin) and a bow and arrow under his son’s bed.
He said: “I saw the bow and arrow and I was quite worried because now I knew if something went wrong he would use it against me.”
The inquest heard Mr Rudakubana flushed the substance down the toilet without knowing what it was, and the inquest’s barrister Nicholas Moss agreed with KC; If he had known that the substance contained poison, he would have been more careful when using it.
Mr Rudakubana said: “I didn’t even wash it, I just put it in the toilet, brought it fresh, but I was like his obedient servant.”
When asked if he wanted to say anything to the parents of the three murdered girls, Mr Rudakubana said: “Yes, I would like to offer my deepest condolences, condolences to the beautiful angels whose lives were taken by my son, so I am very sorry to them and to everyone who was harmed.
“I was crying after what Dion told me two days ago, but I was also crying for them, I cry for them all the time because it reminds me of my son who turned into a monster.”
He added: “I’m so ashamed that I lost the courage to save their little angel.”
Elsie’s parents, Jenni and David Stancombe, said in a statement after the evidence was completed that the inquest had shown in “painful detail” the missed opportunities and failures that led to their daughter’s death.
They said the killer’s parents’ statements only increased their “unbearable pain” and believed Alphonse Rudakubana and Laetitia Muzayire should be held accountable for “what they allowed to happen.”
They added: “Parents must be guilty when they knowingly allow such evil to exist unchecked under their roof, when they know what their children are capable of and choose to do nothing.”
Addressing Mr. Rudakubana and Ms. Muzayire in a statement, Alice’s parents, Alex and Sergio Aguiar, said: “Your failure to take responsibility, act and intervene when there were clear signs of danger directly contributed to the devastating loss of our daughter’s life.”
They said “intervention, care and accountability” could have prevented this tragedy and called on lawmakers to recognize the “urgent need for reform.”
“The system needs to be strengthened to identify risks, act on them and protect innocents before tragedy strikes,” they said, adding: “Our daughter’s death should not be in vain.”
Lauren and Ben King, whose daughter Bebe was killed, described the statements of Rudakubana’s parents as “deeply disturbing and shameful”.
They said they had the opportunity to intervene “from time to time.”
“If they had acted out of a real sense of duty, Bebe, Elsie and Alice would still be here. It’s that simple.”
In a statement made through their legal representatives, they said: “These were not inevitable mistakes. These were systematic mistakes and every institution involved must now be held accountable.”
Nicola Brook, representing adult victims Leanne Lucas, Heidi Liddle and Jonathan Hayes, said: “We expected failures but did not expect them to happen on such a prolific scale across multiple institutions.”
