The Southport killer’s dad retaliated by slapping his son around the face
Axel Rudakubana (centre) during an appearance in criminal court(Image: PA)
Axel Rudakubana kicked his dad in the testicles in response to the older man trimming the grass near where his pet hamster had been buried, the Southport Inquiry has heard. Rudakubana, then 14, viciously assaulted his dad Alphonse on January 14, 2021 as part of a conflict which stemmed from a “misguided view of being slighted”.
The Southport Inquiry, sitting at Liverpool Town Hall, heard on Wednesday that Southport killer Rudakubana had been “triggered” by his dad trimming the grass and plants near where his pet had been buried. Rudakubana, who is being referred to as AR during the proceedings, tried to get hold of his dad’s laptop to break it and, when stopped from doing so, launched a kick at his testicles.
Proceedings were told “there seemed to have been a retaliation” and Alphonse Rudakubana struck his son around the face. Nicholas Moss KC, lead counsel to the inquiry, said: “His dad hit him almost as a reaction to being kicked between the legs. AR’s father was very apologetic and understanding that hitting his son was wrong and unlawful.”
Rudakubana reported his dad to Lancashire County Council’s Children and Family Wellbeing Service (CFW) who warned Alphonse that if a similar incident happened again then a safeguarding referral would be made. Mr Moss asked Sharon Barrett, a senior family support worker at Lancashire County Council, if the incident showed Rudakubana’s continued capacity for violence when he felt he had been wronged.
The inquiry has heard how Rudakubana previously carried a knife into school on 10 occasions due to feeling bullied; said he wanted to kill a target and attacked an innocent boy because he didn’t want to get into trouble for nothing; and had previously assaulted his dad at home.
Sharon Barrett, senior family support worker at Lancashire County Council(Image: Southport Inquiry)
Ms Barrett replied: “Yes. The conversations happened with the Child and Youth Justice Service about the violence that happened and, at that point, a safeguarding decision was made between us both to say that it actually didn’t meet the threshold for a referral to Children’s Social Care at that point, but it was considered.”
Mr Moss asked why a referral wasn’t made given Rudakubana had assaulted his dad and hadn’t learnt to control his temper. Ms Barrett again said the threshold hadn’t been met and added: “It was considered that the plan that was in place around building a relationship with AR and his father was still appropriate.”
Ms Barrett said nothing further was done and added: “It seemed to us as professionals that those risks were reducing because of the plan that was happening…so yes he was doing things but there was a reduction.”
Andrea Fontaine-Smith, who was a support worker involved with Rudakubana’s family at the time, confirmed she received a call from Alphonse telling her in the course of an argument his son had started to throw water and threatened to break his laptop before assaulting him.
The youth offending team was told a similar story but from the perspective of Rudakubana. It was not until six days later following a conversation with the youth offending team that Ms Fontaine-Smith learnt that Alphonse Rudakubana had struck his son.
She carried out a home visit on January 25, delayed by her need to isolate because she had covid, with her notes recording Rudakubana “responded extremely to a minor domestic dispute”.
The inquiry heard when she spoke to Rudakubana to explain his behaviour was not acceptable and amounted to assault, he “did not show remorse and said he was not sorry”. The teenager added he didn’t injure his dad much “as he was only wearing slippers, not shoes”.
Andrea Fontaine-Smith, a former support worker at Lancashire County Council(Image: Southport Inquiry)
Rudakubana had repeated involvement with Lancashire County Council’s CFW up until shortly after his 17th birthday. The inquiry previously heard the service was time-restricted and support workers were directed to close cases if they were open for more than 20 weeks.
The inquiry heard neither Rudakubana or his parents had to give consent to engage with the support workers. The teenager occasionally met and spoke with support workers at his home but would also go up to his bedroom to avoid conversations.
Alphonse Rudakubana in early 2020 said his son was not a risk “at home or to himself” but “would be a risk elsewhere because if someone did something to him, he would do something in return”. In May of the same year, Rudakubana’s school, The Acorns, had told the service that Alphonse considered his son to be the victim not the perpetrator.
The inquiry also heard Alphonse Rudakubana emailed the CFW and tried to “manipulate” the service against the youth offending team (YOT), who he believed was an agency “who is there to punish” his son.
At a meeting in October 2021, a “dominating and manipulative” Rudakubana spoke about politics and questioned why people have a bad view of the Taliban when the American government goes “into countries and can hurt people”. His case was closed in March the following year and three days later he was found on a bus armed with a knife after he was reported missing from home.
The last involvement CFW had with the Rudakubana family came in March 2023 following a referral from his then school, Presfields, who had not seen him for 10 months. A support worker saw the teenager at home and observed that there was the potential for Rudakubana to still be violent.
But following a slight improvement Rudakubana again started avoiding the contact and by his 17th birthday it was decided nothing could be done if he wasn’t going to consent.
John Goss, junior counsel to the inquiry, summarised the state of play as: “AR was as bad as he had been at the start of the episode…in effect, it rather trickled into the sand because even though everyone could see AR needed help, no one could work out how to get him to accept it.”
Rudakubana, then aged 17, killed Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, and attempted to murder 10 others at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on July 29 last year. He was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 52 years after admitting the dance party offences on the first day of his trial in January.
The first phase of the inquiry, which is expected to run until November, continues.