Mother of injured girl tells Southport inquiry ‘our girls deserve an apology'

Independent

09-07-2025

The mother of a girl who escaped the Southport knife attack but was dragged back into the building has told a public inquiry 'our girls deserve an apology'.
On Wednesday, the second day of the public inquiry at Liverpool Town Hall heard evidence from families of the children who survived the attack, carried out by Axel Rudakubana at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29 last year.
The mother of one girl, who was seven when she suffered 33 stab wounds, said the inquiry 'must answer her daughter's questions' about how the attack happened.
Sitting beside the girl's father in the witness box, she said: 'She deserves the truth, she deserves accountability. She deserves an apology. Our girls deserve an apology.
'Backed up by the promise that changes will be made and this will not be allowed to happen again.'
Eighteen-year-old Rudakubana was given a life sentence in January, with a minimum term of 52 years, for the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven.
He also attempted to murder eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, as well as instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.
The woman, whose daughter was referred to as C1 to protect her identity, said: 'I want you to be in no doubt of the consequences of this horrific attack and what life now looks like for our daughter.
'I expect the weight of responsibility you hold to be felt in every question you ask and every recommendation you make.'
She said her daughter became known as 'the girl that was dragged back in' after footage of her escaping was shown during the sentencing of Rudakubana.
'But she is so much more than that moment on CCTV. Those moments carried so much courage and determination to survive, that the CCTV footage does not tell us,' the woman said.
She told the inquiry her daughter 'fought like hell, to get herself out of that building, twice' and described a 'stampede' to get out, during which she was knocked over and huddled with two other children at the top of the stairs.
She said: 'I would like to say that I don't for a moment doubt that the actions of the teachers there that day saved lives.
'They escaped to call the police and flag down help, they shielded other children. I am grateful for what they did for those girls.
'But the uncomfortable and often unspoken truth of our own reality is that, when the adults left in those first moments, our daughter had to save herself.'
The father of another of the girls said it was 'patently clear that lessons need to be learned from what happened, and processes need to be changed'.
Sitting beside the girl's mother in the witness box, he said: 'Our nine-year-old daughter was stabbed three times in the back by a coward she didn't even see.
'Although she didn't know what was happening — she knew she had to run. '
He said they had since seen CCTV footage of her running from the building on Hart Street, looking 'scared, confused and pained' and hiding behind a parked car, before jumping to 'relative safety' through an open car door.
Describing his daughter as his 'hero', the father said she remained 'the positive, caring, funny, enthusiastic, courageous girl she always was'.
He said: 'She wears her scars with a dignity and defiance that is remarkable.'
The mother of another girl who was at the event, referred to as Child Q, said arriving to collect her daughter on that day and seeing screaming children running from the building was 'the most horrific experience of my life'.
'To be unaware of what was happening, trying to process it all whilst also being fearful of what could happen next – it's an unexplainable feeling,' she said.
'What I saw on that day will stick with me forever, I constantly have flashbacks and re-live what happened.'
In the statement, read by the family's legal representative, the woman said her daughter now has to sit where she can see the door at school so she can always be aware of who is entering the classroom, and is sometimes unable to attend school altogether due to her anxiety.
The mother of a seven-year-old girl, referred to as C8, said in a statement read on her behalf that the incident had 'changed everything'.
She said she was at work on July 29 when she received a 'panicked phone call' from her friend's mother.
She said: 'That moment, the sound of fear in her voice and the panic I felt will never leave me.
'I rushed to the scene and what I saw is something no parent should ever see.'
She said her daughter, who suffered injuries to her arm and face, could not be left alone any more and only felt safe with a small number of people, needing 'constant support, reassurance and protection'.
She had 'witnessed horrors that no-one should ever see', she said.
She said: 'I am grateful beyond words that she survived. But what she went through, what she saw and what she continues to carry has changed everything.'
Counsel to the inquiry Nicholas Moss KC paid tribute to the 'immense courage and dignity' of the families who had prepared evidence.
After hearing four statements, the hearing was adjourned until September 8, when more impact evidence will be heard.
The inquiry was opened on Tuesday by chairman Sir Adrian Fulford, who described the acts of Rudakubana as 'one of the most egregious crimes in our country's history'.
In his opening statement, Sir Adrian said Rudakubana 'posed a very serious and significant risk of violent harm, with a particular and known predilection for knife crime'.