'I knew I was running for my life': How Southport attack unfolded, as told by survivors

A 14-year-old girl described the scene in Southport as "full of laughter and excitement" as 26 children gathered for a Taylor Swift-themed dance class. It was the start of the summer holidays, the sun was shining over the town, and children were being dropped off by their parents. July 29, 2024, seemed to promise a wonderful day.

However, the subsequent attack led to Axel Rudakubana being sentenced to at least 52 years in prison. During the sentencing on Thursday, the perspectives and details of all parties involved in the incident were revealed to the public for the first time. While the girls were making friendship bracelets, outside the classroom a taxi driver was chasing a passenger who had refused to pay their fare. This teenage passenger was dressed inappropriately, wearing a thick green hoodie, the hood pulled tightly around his face, and a surgical mask, with a 20cm kitchen knife in his pocket.

Initially, Axel Rudakubana could not find a way into the studio, and CCTV footage showed him struggling to open a locked door. However, he then discovered another entrance and walked in. As one of the surviving children said, it was "the start of my nightmare."

Testimonies from the dance class confirmed that Rudakubana acted calmly and purposefully. He had planned for this moment for some time and did not hesitate to grab and stab the closest girl who had just walked through the door. During the attack, he did not say a word. It took a moment for those in the room to realize what was happening. "I thought the person who stabbed me was a cleaner," one of the victimized children recalled. She initially thought it was 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 "hazy," but she said she remembered thinking, "I don't want to die, I have to get out of here." Another victim said her memory of Rudakubana was like a monster roaming the studio. In court, she later told the perpetrator who almost killed her, "What I remember most about you is your eyes. You looked possessed, not human."

The attack triggered a massive emergency response, with paramedics working hard to save lives. Leanne Lucas, the head of the dance class, first saw Rudakubana outside as she opened the windows to let fresh air into the warm dance studio. She didn't think anything of it until the door suddenly opened and he appeared. She said what happened next left her and the girls with "scars that we can't erase, scars that we can't move on from." She only fully realized the horror of what was happening when she was stabbed in the back. She later told the girls, "I lived for you." Heidi Liddell was also supervising the class and was sitting on the floor helping the children make friendship bracelets. By the time she realized what was happening, the fast-moving attacker had already caused unspeakable harm. Heidi acted immediately, beginning to push the girls towards the door. One girl ran to the toilet across the hallway, and she followed. Heidi locked the door, leaning against it tightly. She told the girl not to make a sound. Then the door started shaking. Rudakubana was still looking for victims. Outside, she could hear the screams of the children who hadn't escaped.

Rudakubana tried to kill as many children as possible: in a 15-minute frenzy, two girls died and one girl was left close to death. Eight other children and two adults were stabbed. Some were fighting for their lives. If it weren't for the girls' quick thinking and bravery, many more would have died. One child recalled that as Rudakubana walked towards her, the world seemed to move in "slow motion" as he made his way across the room attacking her friends. Instinct drove her. She remembered "pushing hard" the friends who could still run, and they escaped down the stairs. As she read her statement in court, she told Rudakubana, "I knew I was running for my life. I knew from your eyes that you wanted to kill us all." At sentencing, the judge concluded that if Rudakubana could have, he would have killed all the children present, as well as anyone who got in his way.

One child who survived that day was stabbed 30 times. She was airlifted to the hospital, where doctors performed six hours of surgery to try and save the function of her arm, hand, and fingers. "She witnessed the deaths of two girls," her parents told investigators. During her recovery, there was a moment when the child told her parents, "I don't know who I am anymore." But six months later, she was fighting back. Her mother said, "We are incredibly proud of what she has achieved in the last six months. He has not destroyed her spirit, her amazing sense of humour, her resilience, and her pure and beautiful heart." The survivors in Southport are slowly rebuilding their lives. Investigators handling the case said they were struck by their spirit and resilience. This was exemplified when one girl was asked what she would say when her classmates asked if she wished she hadn't been there that day. "In some ways, I wish I hadn't been there," she told them. "But at the same time, if I wasn't there, other people would have been stabbed, and they might have died - so I'm glad that I might have stopped other people from getting hurt."