In summary
• Alphonse Rudakubana tells public inquiry that his son, Axel Rudakubana, had frequent violent outbursts at home, which worsened after being expelled from school in October 2019 for bringing a knife
• He feared reporting the violence might lead to his son being taken away
• Inquiry earlier heard from Rudakubana’s brother, Dion, who said he feared his brother might kill someone two years before the July 2024 attack in which Axel murdered three children at a dance class in Southport
The father of the Southport killer feared his son would be taken away from him after violent outbursts at home, he has told the public inquiry.
Giving evidence from a remote location on Wednesday, Alphonse Rudakubana told the inquiry his son, Axel Rudakubana, would have “random” outbursts of violence, sometimes twice a day.
Rudakubana murdered Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven; Bebe King, six; and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, in his attack on a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29 last year.
Mr Rudakubana said the violence became worse when Rudakubana was excluded from the Range High School in October 2019 after admitting to taking a knife to school.
In a statement, he said: “I became conditioned to his behaviour, allowed him to abuse and assault me and to cause damage at home without response because this was the only way of getting through the day.
“AR’s outbursts would blow over quite quickly and would be followed by a period of relative calm.
“I am ashamed that this was my response and I felt demeaned but I did not know what else to do.”
Asked if he was concerned that Rudakubana would be taken away from him if he reported all the incidents of violence, he said: “The concern in my mind was I had a vulnerable child.”
Asked again, by inquiry chairman Sir Adrian Fulford, if he was concerned his son would be taken away from him, he said: “Yes.”
Mr Rudakubana said he cried on Tuesday night after hearing evidence from his eldest son, Dion Rudakubana, 21, about his experience of violence in the home.
The inquiry was told of four incidents of violence in November 2021, including two which police were called to.
Mr Rudakubana said he would not have phoned the police about the first incident, but his wife, Laetitia Muzayire, found it “traumatic”.
Mr Rudakubana said: “I experienced it more often.”
He said he did not tell child and mental health services (CAMHS) about the incident because he expected police to share the details of the call with other agencies.
The last incident that month happened after Rudakubana became angry because he didn’t like food his father had cooked, he said.
He told the inquiry he rang the police on that occasion because Rudakubana damaged a rental car.
Mr Rudakubana, who was born in Rwanda and moved to the UK in 2002, was only seen during his evidence by the inquiry team, with members of the public, press and other participants only hearing an audio feed.
He is due to continue his evidence on Wednesday afternoon.
Giving evidence on Tuesday, Dion Rudakubana said he feared he would kill someone two years before he carried out his stabbing.
He said his brother reminded him of the sociopathic murderer in film No Country For Old Men.
Dion Rudakubana, two years older than his brother, described violent outbursts from his younger brother, which he said used to take place when they were in the car on the way to school together, but got worse when Rudakubana was expelled in October 2019.
The 21-year-old, who gave evidence to the Liverpool Town Hall hearing via videolink from a remote location, said in a statement his brother's behaviour remained "unpredictable and inconsistent".
He said: "I had to be cautious if I did speak to him because any disagreement could escalate into an argument."
He also described plates and glasses being smashed by his brother in the home.
The inquiry was shown messages Dion Rudakubana sent to a friend when he returned home during his first year of university in December 2022.
In the messages, Dion Rudakubana spoke about his brother and said: "The risk of him doing something potentially fatal is the major concern."
He told the inquiry: "There had been various events where we had to call the police out where indications were there."
In another message, he said: "The fights are scary because of the danger of someone dying.
"My brother doesn't really show mercy so my dad just has to try not to die.
"We hide knives to mitigate that factor."
Richard Boyle, counsel to the inquiry, asked: "You had serious fears that your brother would kill a member of your family?"
Dion replied: "If things escalated to that point."
He said he had watched the film No Country For Old Men recently and the main character, who killed more than 10 people and he said was meant to be a sociopath, reminded him of his brother.
"That's why it concerned me," he said.
"I felt the threat to be within the home. Even then nothing had ever come of it."
