The young man accused of murdering three girls in England in July, sparking violent riots, will be tried in January. During his appearance, he refused to plead guilty or not to the charges against him, including possession of a deadly poison and an Al-Qaeda manual…
It was an affair which deeply shocked England. At the end of July, three girls aged 6, 7 and 9 were stabbed to death during a dance class in Southport, in the northwest of the country. A drama which quickly turned into an anti-immigration riot, fueled by far-right groups on social networks. The suspect, an 18-year-old young man, has just been brought to justice and his trial has been set for January.
A silent accused and damning charges
Wednesday, Axel Rudakubana appeared by videoconference at Liverpool Criminal Court from prison. When the judge asked him whether or not he wanted to plead guilty to the charges against him, the accused remained silent, regularly shaking his head during the statement of the charges. His attitude contrasts with his previous appearance at the end of October, where he had partially hidden his face.
In addition to the three murders, the young man born in Wales to a family originally from Rwanda is being prosecuted for having injured eight other children and two adults during the attack. But that’s not all. Although the terrorist motive was not established, he was also charged with possessing information likely to be useful to a terrorist. According to the police, he would have in fact produces ricinan extremely toxic poison, and held an al-Qaeda training manual.
A high-voltage trial
Faced with the silence of the accused, the judge noted that he pleaded not guilty to all the charges. His trial, which is expected to last up to 4 weeks, will begin on January 20. Around fifteen relatives of the victims, including the parents of one of the murdered girls, were present in the court room for this preliminary hearing.
This heinous triple murder and the unrest it has caused risk weighing on the atmosphere of the debates. A police action monitoring body estimated on Wednesday that the police had underestimated the climate of violence and the weight of disinformation which culminated in this summer’s anti-immigration riots. The tension will therefore be palpable during this extraordinary trial which is already shaping up to be one of the most followed in recent years in England.
