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The sentencing hearing of the teenager who killed three young girls and wounded 10 other people last summer in a knife attack on a dance class in Southport, England, began on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Judge Julian Goose, who is presiding over the case, told the attacker, Axel Rudakubana, 18, that a life sentence would be inevitable after he pleaded guilty on Monday.<\/p>\n
Mr. Rudakubana appeared in Liverpool Crown Court wearing a gray sweatsuit, with a blue medical mask covering his mouth and nose. When asked by the judge to confirm his name, he refused to speak and put his head in his lap.<\/p>\n
But shortly after, as prosecutors began reading out the details of the case, Mr. Rudakubana screamed from the defendant\u2019s dock in the back of the room, \u201cI need to speak to a paramedic because I feel ill.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The judge noted that medical specialists had examined Mr. Rudakubana that morning and determined him fit to attend the hearing. His lawyer said the defendant had not eaten for a number of days, and Mr. Rudakubana continued to yell for several minutes.<\/p>\n
Judge Goose said: \u201cThese proceedings are being conducted under my control, not yours, Mr. Rudakubana. Do you understand?\u201d He then ordered Mr. Rudakubana removed from the court, saying, \u201cI won\u2019t have him disrupting.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Before Mr. Rudakubana\u2019s sentencing on Thursday, prosecutors read out the details of their case against him, revealing the harrowing nature of the attack on July 29. Deanna Heer, a lawyer for the prosecution, said he \u201ctargeted the youngest, most vulnerable in order to spread the greatest level of fear and outrage, which he succeeded in doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
She told the courtroom that while Mr. Rudakubana was under arrest at the police station after the attack, he was heard to say, \u201cIt\u2019s a good thing those children are dead\u201d and \u201cI\u2019m so glad.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Ms. Heer recounted how he had traveled by taxi to Hart Space, where a sold-out Taylor Swift-themed dance class for children ages 6 to 11 was underway during the summer break from school.<\/p>\n
Visual evidence shown in court, taken from CCTV footage and police-worn body cameras, showed Mr. Rudakubana arriving outside the dance studio that was crowded with 26 children.<\/p>\n
He entered the building and rampaged through the room, stabbing several children as well as Leanne Lucas, who had organized the class. Moments later, screams could be heard on outdoor CCTV footage, before children began running from the building.<\/p>\n
Some were covered in blood and collapsed before bystanders came to their aid. At one point, a dance teacher who had shielded one of the young girls in a bathroom was seen being helped from the room by the police.<\/p>\n
Several people wept in the courtroom as the footage was shown, and several chose to leave, overcome by emotion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
In the attack, the injuries suffered by Bebe King, 6, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, were so severe that they died inside the building, the police said. Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9, ran outside with the other children but soon collapsed. She was taken to the hospital and died the next day. Eight other children and two adults were wounded in the attack.<\/p>\n
But as the horror unfolded, there were glimpses of heroism. The court heard how after Ms. Lucas was stabbed in the back, she still managed to usher the children out the door and urge them to run for safety, even as she bled from a severe wound.<\/p>\n
Another teacher in the dance studio at the time of the attack, Heidi Liddle, also encouraged children to flee, before one girl ran toward the bathroom. Ms. Liddle followed her inside, locked the door and braced her foot against it to protect them. She told the girl not to make a sound. They were later safely rescued by the police.<\/p>\n
Two window cleaners working nearby, Marcin Tyjon and Joel Verite, heard the commotion and rushed to the scene. Mr. Verite followed the police into the building, picked up Bebe and carried her out of the building, screaming as he did so because of the severity of her injuries. Mr. Tyjon gave CPR to one young victim in a parking lot outside.<\/p>\n
Since Mr. Rudakubana pleaded guilty on Monday, a portrait of a deeply troubled young man<\/a> obsessed with violence has emerged, as has the fact that he was on the radar of the local authorities for years before the July 29 knife attack in Southport<\/a>, a town north of Liverpool.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n After the attack, Britain was rattled by a series of riots as disinformation about the attacker\u2019s identity swirled on social media and messaging apps. False claims that he was an undocumented immigrant or newly arrived asylum seeker were amplified by far-right agitators<\/a>. Mr. Rudakubana is a British citizen who was born in Wales to parents originally from Rwanda.<\/p>\n There was no evidence that he ascribed to any particular political or religious ideology, the police and prosecutors said.<\/p>\n At age 13 and 14, he was referred three times to Prevent, a British counterterrorism program, because of his fixation on violence, but those referrals were ultimately dropped because it was determined each time that he did not meet the threshold for intervention.<\/p>\n