A teen charged with killing three girls and wounding 10 other people in a stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England last summer is going on trial
Teen goes on trial over stabbings at Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England last summerBy BRIAN MELLEYAssociated PressThe Associated PressLONDON
LONDON (AP) — It was the first day of summer vacation and the little girls at the Hart Space, a sanctuary hidden behind a row of houses, were there to dance to the music of Taylor Swift.
What was supposed to be a day of joy turned to terror and heartbreak when an intruder with a knife attacked the girls and their teacher on July 29 in the seaside town of Southport in northwest England.
The teen arrested in the aftermath goes on trial Monday on three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and additional charges related to possessing the poison ricin and for having an al-Qaida manual.
The trial is expected to last four weeks.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, who has refused to speak in court, had pleas of not guilty entered on his behalf at Liverpool Crown Court. He was 17 at the time of the attack.
Prosecutors haven’t said what they believe led to the rampage.
The stabbings led to a week of rioting across parts of England and Northern Ireland after Rudakubana — then unnamed — was falsely identified as an asylum-seeker who had recently arrived in Britain by boat.
Violent groups made up mostly of men who were mobilized by far-right activists on social media attacked mosques and hotels housing migrants, tossed beer bottles, rocks and other weapons at police, and set fire to cars as they clashed with officers in dozens of cities.
More than 1,200 people were arrested for the disorder and hundreds have been jailed for up to nine years in prison.
Rudakubana, who was born in Wales to Rwandan immigrants, is charged with murder in the deaths of Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6.
Eight other girls, ranging in age from 7 to 13, were wounded, along with instructor Leanne Lucas and Jonathan Hayes, who worked in a business next door and intervened. Fifteen other girls, as young as 5, were at the class but uninjured.
Several months after his arrest on the day of the killings, Rudakubana was charged with additional counts for production of a biological toxin, ricin and possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism for having the manual in a document on his computer.
Police have said the stabbings haven’t been classified as acts of terrorism because the motive isn’t yet known.
