A pink ribbon was tied around a post near the Hart Space to commemorate the innocent lives lost. Photo / Getty Images
A pink ribbon was tied around a post near the Hart Space to commemorate the innocent lives lost. Photo / Getty Images
At an inquiry into a horrific knife attack on children in the English city of Southport, one victim’s mother has said the “unspoken truth” of the attack was that the children were left to save each other.
The woman, whose 7-year-old daughter was stabbed 33 times during the rampage, saidthe little girls fought alongside one another and now “deserve the truth and deserve an apology”.
The attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29 last year saw Axel Rudakubana murder Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9, Bebe King, 6, and 7-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe.
The 18-year-old also attempted to kill eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, as well as Leanne Lucas, the class instructor, and John Hayes, a local businessman.
Lucas had left the room to find help, previously saying, “If I didn’t get out, everyone was going to die.” Meanwhile, organiser Heidi Liddle “ushered many children out of the building for safety” and locked others in the toilets to protect them.
(L-R) Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice da Silva Aguiar. Photo / AFP
The mother of one of the surviving children, referred to only as Child C1, told the Southport Inquiry that “there were no adults to help our daughter” on the day of the attack.
Reading out a victim impact statement at Liverpool Town Hall, the woman, whose child lost two and a half litres of blood in the assault, said: “She was only supported by other children. The courage and strength she found leaves me crushed but in complete awe.
“I would like to say that I don’t for a moment doubt that the actions of the teachers there that day saved lives.”
“They escaped to call the police and flag down help, they shielded other children. I am grateful for what they did for those girls.
“But the uncomfortable – and often unspoken – truth of our own reality is that when the adults left in those first moments, our daughter had to save herself.”
She added: “It is these untold stories of remarkable strength and bravery that are missing when we have heard other accounts of this day.”
Mother mourns for the untold stories of immense strength and bravery contained in these children's hearts. Photo / Getty Images
Her daughter was captured on CCTV trying to flee the building after being attacked by Rudakubana before she was dragged back inside and stabbed again.
“She had fought like hell to get herself out of that building, twice,” the mother said.
“And that reality is painful – our children fought alone, they shielded each other, comforted each other, and helped each other, and that must be remembered.”
The inquiry heard that there was a “stampede” when the girls tried to flee the first-floor dance studio and escape via a narrow corridor.
“In the chaos, she was knocked over and found herself trapped and huddled with two other children at the top of the stairs,” the woman continued.
“She put her arms around the girls as [Rudakubana] began to attack them.
“She tells me with such clarity that a moment came where one of the girls was able to get up. She put the girl’s hand on the handrail and told her to go – to get down the stairs – and she did.”
An aerial view of the entrance and forecourt of The Hart Space where the Southport knife attack took place. Photo / Getty Images
As the attack continued, she said her daughter crouched over another girl, telling her “it would be okay”.
She was told by her daughter: “It happened so fast, but I helped them, I’m glad I could help them, mum.”
Speaking about the lasting impact of the assault, she said her daughter struggled to understand how someone “could do this to children”.
The woman said that on some days her daughter, who was the most severely injured of all the surviving children, showed empathy for her attacker.
She said Child C1 asked: “Did he have friends? Were people not kind to him? Why did no one help him? How did he get the knife? Did his parents know? Why didn’t he get stopped? Did the police know?”
Images of her daughter’s injured body were posted to TikTok following the attack, and the family now keep only blunt knives in their home.
Parents recount the traumatic ordeals their children experience up to this day. Photo / Getty Images
Another mother, whose daughter is known as Child C8, said her little girl now insists on knowing where the exits are whenever she enters a new building.
She said: “She constantly scans people and places for danger. One time she saw a newspaper in a shop with the perpetrator’s photo in school uniform and since then, groups of school children – especially older boys in uniform – are a major trigger.”
She added that her daughter has also been left fearful of men, “particularly those who are black”, which has led to “difficult but necessary conversations about race”.
Describing the moment her daughter called her on the day of the attack, the woman said: “The sound of fear in her voice and the panic I felt will never leave me.”
The mother of another little girl, known as Child Q, said that “witnessing children running from the building, screaming and fearing for their lives is the most horrific experience of my life”.
She told the inquiry that her daughter always asks for doors to be closed and panics whenever she hears a police siren or sees an emergency vehicle.
The parents of a fourth surviving victim – a 9-year-old girl – said their child had been “stabbed three times in the back by a coward she didn’t even see”.
“Although she didn’t know what was happening – she knew she had to run,” the mother added.
