18-year-old United Kingdom citizen, Axel Rudakubana who was convicted of murdering three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England, has refused to leave his cell for a court hearing, which corrected his life sentence.
The 18-year-old, who was sentenced in January for the knife attack in Southport, was due to appear at Liverpool Crown Court via video link from London’s Belmarsh Prison on the morning of Tuesday, February 4 for a hearing.
Carmel Wilde, defending, told the court “We understand from staff at Belmarsh that he has refused to leave his cell to attend court or to speak to his legal team.”
Prosecutor Deanna Heer, asked the judge to amend Rudakubana’s sentence for three counts of murder from custody for life, to detention at His Majesty’s pleasure, because he was under 18 at the time of the offence.
Justice Goose said: “The case of the Crown against Axel Rudakubana was listed in the prosecution application. The purpose of this hearing is to correct a technical error, but which will not affect the total sentence imposed on the defendant on January 23 this year.”
He said the sentence is “still a life sentence,” but of a different kind and added that the defendant has refused to waive his right to attend or to be here.”
The judge explained to the court that due to the circumstances of the application, which would not result in his sentence being lengthened, he was not required to attend.
Rudakubana was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 52 years, after pleading guilty to murdering Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9, Bebe King, 6, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, at a dance class in Southport last July.
He also admitted attempting to murder eight other children and two adults, possession of a knife, production of a biological toxin, ricin, and possessing information, likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism.
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