The trial of Axel Rudakubana, arrested on three counts of murder and ten counts of attempted murder, is expected to last four weeks.
It was the first day of summer vacation and the little girls at Hart Space, a sanctuary hidden behind a row of houses, were there dancing to Taylor Swift’s music.
That day of joy turned to terror when a knife-wielding intruder attacked the girls and their teacher on July 29 in the seaside town of Southport in northwest England.
The teenager arrested in the process is on trial today for three counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder.
Several months after his arrest on the day of the murders, Axel Rudakubana, 18, was charged with additional counts of producing a biological toxin, ricin, and possessing information likely to be useful to a person committing or committing preparing to commit an act of terrorism. He had an Al-Qaeda manual in a document on his computer.
The trial is expected to last four weeks.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, who refused to speak in court, entered a not guilty plea on his behalf at Liverpool Crown Court. He was 17 at the time of the attack.
-Prosecutors have not said what they believe led to the rampage. Police said the stabbings had not been classified as acts of terrorism because the motive was not yet known.
Rudakubana, born in Wales to Rwandan immigrants, is accused of murdering Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6.
Eight other girls, aged between 7 and 13, were injured, along with instructor Leanne Lucas and Jonathan Hayes, who worked at a nearby business and intervened. Fifteen other girls, barely 5 years old, were present in class but unharmed.
The stabbing attacks led to a week of rioting in parts of England and Northern Ireland after Rudakubana – then anonymous – was falsely identified as an asylum seeker who had recently arrived in Britain by boat.
Violent groups of mainly men mobilized by far-right activists on social media have attacked mosques and hotels housing migrants, thrown beer bottles, stones and other weapons at police and set fires to cars during clashes with police in dozens of cities. .
More than 1,200 people have been arrested over the unrest and hundreds have been sentenced to up to nine years in prison.
