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Europe|U.K. Teenager Who Killed 3 Girls in Southport Stabbing to Be Sentenced Today
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/23/world/europe/uk-southport-stabbing-sentence-axel-rudakubana.html
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Axel Rudakubana, 18, pleaded guilty to murder and attempted murder after attacking children and two adults at a dance class last July.
Jan. 23, 2025Updated 7:10 a.m. ET
The teenager who killed three young girls and wounded 10 other people in a knife attack on a dance class in Southport, England, last summer will be sentenced on Thursday.
Judge Julian Goose, who is presiding over the case, told the attacker, Axel Rudakubana, 18, that a life sentence equivalent would be inevitable after he pleaded guilty on Monday.
Mr. Rudakubana appeared in Liverpool Crown Court wearing a gray sweatsuit, with a blue medical mask covering his mouth and nose. When asked by the judge to confirm his name, he refused to speak and silently put his head in his lap.
But shortly after the sentencing hearing began, as prosecutors were reading out the details of the case against him, Mr. Rudakubana began screaming from the defendant’s dock in the back of the room, “I need to speak to a paramedic, because I feel ill.”
The judge noted that medical specialists had examined Mr. Rudakubana that morning and determined him fit to attend the hearing. His lawyer told the judge the defendant had not eaten for a number of days, and Mr. Rudakubana continued to yell for several minutes.
Judge Goose said: “These proceedings are being conducted under my control, not yours, Mr. Rudakubana. Do you understand?” He then ordered Mr. Rudakubana removed from the court saying, “I won’t have him disrupting.”
