Teen who killed 3 girls at Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England faces sentencing
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A violence-obsessed teenager is facing decades in prison when he is sentenced for stabbing three young girls to death at a Taylor Swift-themed summer dance class. Axel Rudakubana, 18, faces a sentencing hearing Thursday at Liverpool Crown Court in northwest England over the July 29 attack, which devastated the seaside town of Southport, shocked the country and set off both street violence and soul-searching.
The crime triggered anti-immigrant rioting and has led the government to reconsider its definition of terrorism, its approach to online radicalization and the way information about criminal suspects is made public. Rudakubana was charged with three counts of murder, 10 of attempted murder for those he injured, and additional charges of possessing a knife, the poison ricin and an al-Qaida manual. He unexpectedly changed his plea to guilty on all charges on Monday – sparing victims’ families a lengthy trial, but also potentially robbing them of answers.
Prosecutors plan to set out their case against Rudakubana in detail during Thursday’s hearing, with relatives of the victims watching in court. The attack occurred on the first day of summer vacation when two dozen little girls were in a class to learn yoga and dance to the songs of Taylor Swift. What was supposed to be a day of joy turned to terror and heartbreak when Rudakubana, armed with a knife, intruded and began stabbing the girls and their teacher.
