The parents of child murderer Axel Rudakubana could yet face criminal charges after police confirmed they were “obtaining full transcripts” of the testimonies they gave to the Southport inquiry.
Alphonse Rudakubana and Laetitia Muzayire spent two days in the witness box last week as part of a public inquiry into their son killing three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed event last year.
Rudakubana, who was 17 at the time of the massacre, was jailed for a minimum term of 52 years in January. Police confirmed they would also consider charging “those who may have assisted Axel Rudakubana or failed to prevent his crimes”.
Months later, it was confirmed that no further charges would be brought to light as the evidence gathered did not pass the “police threshold”.
However, in a statement provided to the Daily Mail, Merseyside Police said: “We will obtain full transcripts from the inquiry and assess whether new information was provided that wasn’t known.”
They added previously there had been “insufficient evidence” for a conviction.
During the inquiry, Alphonse admitted he “regrets so much” not calling 999, despite knowing his son had garnered an arsenal of knives and weapons before his knife-wielding rampage that killed Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine.
“I regret I didn’t tell the police because if I had, what happened on July 29 wouldn’t have happened. They would have come and checked everything,” he admitted.
His wife meanwhile said: “There are many things Alphonse and I wish we had done differently, anything that might have prevented this horrific event of 29 July 2024.
“For our failure, we are profoundly sorry.”
The parents of Axel Rudakubana could yet face criminal charges
|
PA
“There’s no way to understand how he got there and chose that place.”
Alphonse admitted he was “scared” his son could have been plotting to start a fire at a nearby school and prevented him from leaving the house by taxi just a week before the attack.
Solicitors representing the three girls who were murdered in the attack welcomed the decision by police to delve further into the comments given by the parents.
Jenni and David Stancombe, parents of Elsie, said they believed the killer’s parents “should be held to account for what they allowed to happen”.
Elsie Dot Stancombe’s parents Jenni (left) and David (right) said Axel Rudakubana’s parents ‘should be held to account for what they allowed to happen’
|
PA
“They knew how dangerous he was, yet they stayed silent,” they said. “They failed not only as parents but as members of our society.”
Bebe’s parents, Lauren and Ben King, added: “What we’re struggling to comprehend is not just [Alphonse Rudakubana and Laetitia Muzayire’s] failure then, but their failure now – to acknowledge, to take responsibility, to face up to what they allowed to happen.”
Alphonse admitted finding a bow and arrow underneath his son’s bed just a week before the attack, while he had hidden a machete that the killer previously ordered online.
He revealed his son found the money for such weapons from his parents themselves, who rewarded him for good behaviour. One example he provided was paying his son £40 for a shower.
The first phase of the hearings at the inquiry has since concluded, with Chairman Sir Adrian Fulford expected to publish the report early next year
|
PA
“I’m really, really sorry,” Alphonse pleaded. “The love I had for him overrode [my] good judgement.”
In a statement, Ms Muzayire said: “There are no words that can ever be enough to express our grief and remorse for the children whose lives were taken or forever changed by our son’s actions.”
The couple arrived from Rwanda in 2002. While they fled the horrors of the Rwandan genocide, Rudakubana’s parents and three sisters were murdered in the civil war.
The first phase of the hearings at the Southport Inquiry has since concluded. Chairman Sir Adrian Fulford is expected to publish his report early next year.
