The father of the Southport attacker has said he regrets not telling the police about the machete delivered to his family home, adding the attack “wouldn’t have happened” if he had reported it.
Alphonse Rudakubana, giving evidence to the Southport Inquiry for a second day, said he had hidden the knife from Axel Rudakubana but did not ask his son any questions about it.
Axel Rudakubana, then 17, murdered Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29 last year.
The inquiry heard that Mr Rudakubana knew the package, delivered in in June 2023, contained the weapon because it was heavy and “in the shape of a knife”.
But when Nicholas Moss KC, counsel to the inquiry, asked why he didn’t open it, the father said “it wasn’t my property”, adding he was “scared of it”.
He asked: “So why, having intercepted the package, seeing that it was a knife or a bladed item, AR has specifically asked for it, he hasn’t reacted violently to it, why didn’t you open to check what on Earth it was that your son was actually buying?”
Mr Rudakubana responded: “I knew it was a knife already, I didn’t want to see it and had I opened it it would have been good because it would have led me to call the police because he would have done something bad.”
The inquiry also heard:
• Alphonse Rudakubana did not want information about his son to be shared with his youth offending team
• Alphonse Rudakubana added there would be an “immediate violent response” if he had tried to exert control over his son
• A consultant psychiatrist who worked with the Southport attacker did not feel “safe” continuing with the case because of his father’s behaviour, accusing him of being “intimidating and disrespectful”, as well as “verbally aggressive and physically intimidating”
• Mr Rudakubana accepted that he withheld “some information” about his son from mental health services
• He also said he did not know a second delivery to his house in October 2023 contained another machete, despite the packaging reading “age verification, age 18 and over” and having “knife warehouse” as the return address.
• Mr Rudakubana messaged his wife saying “our child needs to be protected” after he prevented a taxi from driving his son to his former school on July 22, 2024, to potentially carry out an attack.
• Mr Rudakubana said he “hoped for the best” when his son left the house on the day of the Southport attack. The inquiry heard that when he had received a message from a member of his church that there had been an attack in Southport, he “immediately feared” his son could be involved.
The attacker’s father has said he “regrets so much” and said he “should have called the police”.
He said: “I regret that I didn’t tell the police because if I did, the 29th wouldn’t have happened.
“They would have come and checked everything in his room.”
He admitted he felt “ashamed” that he failed to report his son’s actions and accepted “responsibility”. But he said reporting his son “required so much courage”.
He believes that by him not taking any action it “encouraged him to order more things”.
A week before the attack, which happened on 29 July last year, the attacker’s father found poison, later revealed to be ricin, and a bow and arrow under his son’s bed.
He said: “I saw the bow and arrow and I was quite worried because I knew now if something goes wrong… he would use it against me.”
The inquiry heard Mr Rudakubana flushed the substance down the toilet, not knowing what it was and agreed with Nicholas Moss KC, counsel to the inquiry’s assertion that had he known it contained poison, he would have been more careful handling it.
Mr Rudakubana said: “I didn’t even wash it, I just put it in the toilet, fresh and brought it, but I was like his obedient servant.”
When asked whether he would like to say anything to the parents of the three murdered girls, Mr Rudakubana said: “Yes I’d like to say my deepest sympathy, my condolences for their beautiful angels whose life were taken away by my son, so I’m so desperately sorry to them and everyone else who’s been harmed.
“Two days ago, I was crying after the accounts Dion gave, but I was also crying for them, I cry for them all the time because I have a reminder (of) my son who turned to be a monster.”
He added: “I’m so ashamed I lost the courage to save their little angels.”
In a statement after the evidence had finished, Elsie's parents Jenni and David Stancombe, said the inquiry had shown "in painful detail" missed opportunities and failings that led to their daughter's death.
They said the statements from the killer's parents had only added to their "unbearable pain" and they believed Alphonse Rudakubana and Laetitia Muzayire should be held to account for "what they allowed to happen".
They added: "Parents should be culpable when they knowingly allow such evil to exist unchecked under their own roof, when they know what their child is capable of and choose to do nothing.”
Alice's parents Alex and Sergio Aguiar addressed Mr Rudakubana and Ms Muzayire in a statement, saying: "Your failure to take responsibility, to act, and to intervene when there were clear signs of danger, directly contributed to the devastating loss of our daughter's life."
They said that “intervention, care, and responsibility” could have prevented the tragedy, and also called on lawmakers to recognise the “urgent need for reform”.
"The system must be strengthened to identify risks, act upon them, and protect the innocent before tragedy strikes,” they said, adding: “Our daughter's death must not be in vain.”
Lauren and Ben King, whose daughter Bebe was killed, described the evidence of Rudakubana's parents as "deeply disturbing and shameful".
They said that “time after time” they had opportunities to intervene.
"If they had acted with any real sense of duty, Bebe, Elsie and Alice would still be here. It is that simple.”
In a statement issued through their legal representative, they said: "These were not unavoidable errors. These were systemic failures, and every agency involved must now be held accountable."
Nicola Brook, representing adult victims Leanne Lucas, Heidi Liddle and Jonathan Hayes, said: "We expected failings but we did not expect them to be on such a prolific scale, across multiple agencies.”
