By Canadian Press

Teen charged in UK dance class stabbings faces January trial

Nov 13, 2024 | 10:03 AM

LONDON (AP) — A teen charged with killing three girls and wounding 10 other people in a stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England this summer is scheduled to go on trial early next year, a judge said Wednesday.

Axel Rudakubana, 18, will face trial Jan. 20 in Liverpool Crown Court on three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and additional charges related to possessing the poison ricin and for having an al-Qaida manual.

Family members and friends of the girls killed and injured, as well as one of the class instructors who was badly wounded, attended the hearing in person as Rudakubana appeared by video link from Belmarsh prison in south London.

Rudakubana, who has not entered a plea, continued to refuse to speak in court as he has at previous hearings. He pulled a sweatshirt up over his face and wouldn’t identify himself or acknowledge the judge.

“I know you can hear me because the officer behind you said I can be heard,” Justice Julian Goose said as Rudakubana didn’t respond.

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The trial is expected to last four to six weeks. Another hearing was scheduled for Dec. 12.

Rudakubana was charged in August with murdering three girls — Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6 — and stabbing 10 other people on July 29 in the seaside town of Southport in northern England.

He was charged last month with additional counts for production of a biological toxin, ricin, and possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism for having the manual in a document on his computer.

Police have said the stabbings have not been classified as acts of terrorism because the motive is not yet known.

The stabbings fueled far-right activists to stoke anger at immigrants and Muslims after social media falsely identified Rudakubana — then unnamed — as an asylum seeker who had recently arrived in Britain by boat. Rudakubana was born in Wales to Rwandan immigrants.

Rioting spread across England and Northern Ireland that lasted a week. More than 1,200 people were arrested for the disorder and hundreds have been jailed.

The Associated Press