A teenager pleaded guilty Monday to charges of killing three girls and injuring 10 others in a stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England last summer.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, entered the extraordinary plea at the start of his trial at Liverpool Crown Court. He pleaded guilty to three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and additional charges relating to possession of the poison ricin and possession of an al-Qaeda handbook.
The July 29 stabbing led to a week of unrest across parts of England and Northern Ireland after the suspect was falsely identified as an asylum seeker who had recently arrived in Britain by boat . He was born in Wales.
A judge said Rudakubana faces life in prison when he is sentenced on Thursday.
Defense attorney Stanley Reiz said he would provide the judge with information about Rudakubana's mental health that could be relevant to his sentence.
Rudakubana had refused to speak in court and again refused to identify himself at the start of the proceedings.
Prosecutors have not said what they believe led to the rampage, which led to the deaths of Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6.
Misled as a migrant
The stabbings sparked a week of unrest in parts of England and Northern Ireland after Rudakubana – then unnamed – was falsely identified as a recent asylum seeker. Violent gangs of mostly men mobilized by far-right activists on social media attacked mosques and hotels housing migrants, throwing beer bottles, rocks and other police weapons, and setting cars on fire as they clashed with officers in dozens of cities. .
More than 1,200 people were arrested for the disorder and hundreds were jailed for up to nine years in prison.
The UK government is asking social media companies to do more to stop the spread of disinformation after it was spread on platforms like X and sparked violent protests.
Eight other girls, aged between 7 and 13, were injured in the attack, along with teacher Leanne Lucas and Jonathan Hayes, who worked in a business next door and intervened. There were fifteen other girls, as young as five, in the class but they were not hurt.
A few months after his arrest on the day of the murder, Rudakubana was charged with additional counts of producing a biological toxin, ricin and possessing information that could being useful to a person who was doing or preparing for a terrorist act to have the manual. in a document on his computer.
The police have said that the stabbings are not classified as acts of terrorism as the motive is not yet known.
