How the Southport attack unfolded | Global News Avenue

“The dance club was full of laughter and excitement,” one 14-year-old girl said of the atmosphere among 26 children who gathered in Southport for a Taylor Swift-themed class.

Their summer vacation has just begun, and the sun is shining on the town as they are sent away by their parents. July 29, 2024 is a great day as classes begin.

Next up in attack is Axel Rudakubana At least 52 years in prison. At Thursday’s sentencing, details of the incident were revealed to the public for the first time, from the perspective of those involved.

While the course was in full swing, a taxi driver followed a passenger who had just dropped off outside because he refused to pay.

The teenage passenger was not wearing weather-appropriate clothing: the hood of a thick green hoodie was tightly pulled over his face, and he was wearing a surgical mask. He had a 20cm kitchen knife in his pocket.

Initially, Axel Rudakubana didn’t know how to get into the studio and was caught on surveillance video struggling against the locked door, but then he discovered another entrance and walked in.

As one child survivor said, it was “the beginning of my nightmare.”

WARNING: This article contains distressing and disturbing details.

Accounts within the dance class confirmed that Ruda Kubana’s movements were calm and purposeful.

He had been planning this moment for some time. He didn’t hesitate and grabbed the girl closest to the door as soon as he entered.

When Rudacubana attacked, he said nothing.

For those in the room, it took a moment to understand what was happening.

“I thought the person who stabbed me was a janitor,” one child victim recalled.

She thought it must be a prank, but then she said: “When I saw the blood coming out of me, I realized it wasn’t a prank.”

Her memory of what happened next was “fuzzy” but the child said she remembered thinking: “I don’t want to die, I have to get out of here”.

Another victim said Ruda Cubana was remembered in her memory as a monster wandering around the studio.

In court, she later told the would-be killer: “What struck me most about you were your eyes.

“You look possessed. You don’t look human.”

Dance class leader Leanne Lucas first spotted Rudakubana outside when she opened the window to let some air into the warm dance studio.

She didn’t think much of it until the door opened and he appeared.

What happened next, she said, left her and the girls with “scars that we can’t ignore, scars that we can’t shake.”

The horror of what had happened only became fully clear when she was stabbed in the back. She later told the girls: “I live for you.”

Heidi Liddle, also the homeroom teacher, has been sitting on the floor helping the children make friendship bracelets.

By the time she realized what was happening, the fast-moving attacker had done untold damage.

Heidi sprang into action, trying to push the girls towards the door.

A girl ran towards the toilet on the other side of the landing and she followed.

Heidi locked the door behind her and pressed herself against it. Be silent, she told the girl.

Then the door rattled. Ruda Kubana is still looking for victims.

Outside, she heard the screams of the children who couldn’t escape.

Rudacubana began killing as many children as he could: by the time the 15 minutes of madness were over, two girls were dead and one was dying.

Eight other children and two adults were stabbed. Some people are fighting for their lives.

If it weren’t for the girls’ quick reaction and bravery, more people would surely have died.

One child remembers how the world seemed to move in “slow motion” as Ruda Kubana walked toward her and attacked her friend as he crossed the room.

Instinct kicks in.

She remembers “physically pushing” her friends, who were still able to run as they fled down the stairs.

When she confronted Rudacubana in court and read out her statement, she told him: “I knew I was running for my life.

“I know by the look in your eyes that you want to kill us all.”

When he was sentenced, the judge concluded that if Rudacubana could have done it, he would have killed every child present – and anyone else who got in his way.

One child who survived that day was stabbed 30 times. She was airlifted to hospital, where doctors performed six hours of surgery to try to save the use of her arms, hands and fingers.

“She watched two girls die,” her parents told investigators.

At one point during recovery, the child told her parents: “I don’t know who I am anymore.”

But six months on, she’s fighting back. Her mother said: “We are incredibly proud of what she has achieved over the past six months.

“He completely failed to destroy her spirit, her amazing sense of humor, her ferocity and her pure and beautiful heart.”

The survivors of Southport are slowly rebuilding their lives.

Investigators working on the case said they were shocked by their spirit and resilience.

This was on full display when one girl’s classmates asked her what she would say if she wished she hadn’t been there that day.

“In some ways, I wish I wasn’t,” she told them.

“And, if I hadn’t been there, other people could have been stabbed and they could have died – so I’m glad I probably prevented other people from getting hurt.”