The teen who reportedly killed three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party in Southport, England, faces new charges. The killing happened over the summer during the children’s vacation break, devastating a community. After the incident, prosecutors declared that it wasn’t a terror attack, even though it was horrific.
While investigating the young man, who was 17 years old at the time of the killings, police found more evidence that is not directly tied to the incident. The items found created enough concern enough to keep him in jail for the time being.
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The additional charges are a new development.
The Crown Prosecution Service charged Axel Rudakubana, 18, with murdering three young girls and stabbing an additional 10 people in July. Now the teen faces another charge for allegedly making the deadly poison ricin and for a terror offense, The Independent reported.
During a search of his home shortly after the stabbing, police found ricin, which is a toxic poison present in castor beans, in his home. They also found a PDF file titled, “Military studies in the jihad against the tyrants: the Al Qaeda training manual.”
The court wants to link the new charges to the old ones.
Prosecutor Deanna Heer KC told the court that his new charges should “link up” with his previous charges, The Guardian reported. The teen was previously charged with three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder, and possession of a bladed article for the July 29 attack on a Taylor Swift-themed dance party. Six-year-old Bebe King, and 7-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe, died in the attack. Nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar died in the hospital from her injuries.
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The accused chose not to speak in court.
Rudakubana appeared in court via video, where he spent the whole time with his sweater pulled up over half of his face. When asked by the court to confirm his name, he didn’t speak, and chose not to speak when addressed by the judge at any other point.
“Mr Rudakubana has remained silent at previous hearings as well,” Stan Reiz KC, defending, said. “For reasons of his own he has chosen not to answer the question.”
Despite the terror charge, the court isn't considering the attack a terrorist incident.
“At this time Counter Terrorism Policing has not declared the events of 29 July a terrorist incident,” Serena Kennedy, the chief constable of Merseyside police, said.
“I recognise that these new charges may lead to speculation. The matter for which Axel Rudakubana has been charged under the Terrorism Act doesn’t require motive to be established. For a matter to be declared a terrorist incident, motivation would need to be established.”
Dr. Renu Bindra said that there was “no evidence that any victims, responders or members of the public were exposed to ricin, either as part of the incident or afterwards.”
The incident has led to protests.
Far-right activists used the incident to incite anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim riots across the country. Misinformation about Rudakubana’s identity stoked the fires on social media. Even though he was 17 at the time of the incident, rules around reporting his personal information were overturned in an effort to combat further misinformation happening “in a vacuum.”
