The little girl, who is named child C5 in the Southport Inquiry, lost the entire volume of her blood when Axel Rudakubana repeatedly knifed her at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party last year
One of the girls repeatedly stabbed during the Southport attacks told her parents she “knew she was dying” when it went “quiet and fuzzy”.
Speaking at the Southport Inquiry yesterday, her mother said she was waiting to collect her daughter from the dance party when her little girl came out covered in blood.
Reading her statement at Liverpool Town Hall, she said: “At first I thought it must be paint, but I soon realised it was blood. She heard me call her and ran back to me. Telling me as she did ‘mum, I’ve been stabbed ‘.”
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She continued: “Nothing could have prepared me for the horror of seeing my child so horrifically injured… We later learned that our eldest had been attacked twice. She had fallen inside the room trying to flee and that is when he first attacked her. She has described to us screaming out for someone to help her but there was no one there who could. Despite her injuries she managed to get herself back up and fled to the landing, where she was grabbed and attacked again.”
The mum said her daughter, referred to as child C5 in the inquiry to protect her identity, lost her entire blood volume at the scene and was rushed to Manchester Children’s Hospital, reports the ECHO. She lost a further 1.5 litres of donor blood and was “minutes away from death”.
The mum, supported by the girl’s dad, added: “In those hours we lived every parent’s nightmare, fearing we would lose her. Hearing our daughter talk about these moments from her experience is gut-wrenching. She tells us how she knew that she was dying, describing how everything went quiet and fuzzy.”
Three girls – Bebe King, Alice da Silva Aguiar and Elsie Dot Stancombe – were murdered by teenager Axel Rudakubana during the attack on July 29 last year. Ten people suffered injuries, including teacher Leanne Lucas, while another 16 also survived but continue to live with the emotional scars of the attack.
Occasionally wiping tears from her eyes, the mum said the attack changed not just the life of her eldest, but also her young daughter, who was in the car and witnessed her sister’s injuries. She added: “Our eldest finds it very difficult when inaccurate information about the attack is publicised, especially on social media.
“It causes her anxiety and anger, leaving her feeling as though her voice and her truth have been lost…our daughter is clear when she talks about what this inquiry must achieve. In her words – ‘I do not want any other child to go through this. Children should be protected. Things must change.'”
Earlier in the day the mum of a little girl, referred to as child X, told the inquiry how she arrived to find injured children but not her own daughter. She said: “Time stopped and everything seemed to move in slow motion. I ran back towards the building screaming her name.”
She said she was stopped from entering the building by the emergency services and believed her daughter was dead. “I called my parents hysterically telling them that she was dead,” the mum said. “But then, in the middle of the nightmare, I turned around and I saw my girl standing there with Heidi [Liddle].
“Heidi had saved my daughter’s life. She had run towards the toilet instead of down the stairs with the other children. Heidi had seen her and followed her and shielded the toilet door whilst he tried to get in. I owe everything to Heidi for having the foresight to protect my daughter.
“She tells me she initially thought it was a game of hide and seek. I’ve no doubt in my mind, if Heidi hadn’t have stayed in the building with her, she wouldn’t have made it out alive.” The mum said her daughter is now referred to as the “one in the toilet”.
The first statement of the day was read by the parents of two girls, referred to as V and W. The girls’ mum said: “In the immediate aftermath of the attack, both girls were trying to tell us how someone had come into their class ‘with a fake knife and fake blood’.
“Their little minds reeling, trying to get to grips with how someone would be capable of such atrocities, not wanting to or being able to believe that it was real. The conversations that we had to have with them following this don’t get much more difficult.”
The girls’ dad, who read the second part of the statement, choked with emotion as he added: “We will not allow him to take more from us than he already has. We are in awe of the strength, determination and resilience of our girls.”
The first phase of the inquiry, expected to run until November, will examine Rudakubana’s history and his dealings with relevant agencies, along with any missed opportunities to prevent what happened.
Opening the inquiry earlier this year, chair Sir Adrian Fulford called the attack “one of the most egregious crimes in our country’s history”. The chair said the inquiry was expected to act as a “real engine for change”, adding: “I am determined it will not turn into an exercise of papering over the cracks.”