THE father of a teenager who murdered three young girls during a stabbing spree told a UK inquiry on Wednesday (5) his "violent" son had "random" outbursts and had threatened to kill him.
Axel Rudakubana was jailed for life in January for his knife rampage last year at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the northwest English town of Southport, during which he killed the three girls.
The murders triggered Britain's worst riots in decades.
Speaking to the inquiry into the attack from an undisclosed location, Alphonse Rudakubana said his son, who was 17 at the time, had violent "outbursts" which could happen twice a day.
"He used to beat me up," Rudakubana said, recalling one incident when his son poured oil over his head.
Rudakubana said Axel then threatened him menacingly.
"If you get me out of here, this house, it may take a day, it may take a week, maybe a month, maybe years, I will kill you and trust me I will kill you."
Rudakubana, who fled Rwanda to settle in Britain after living through the 1994 genocide, said his son changed around the time he was expelled from his secondary school in 2019 after admitting to carrying a knife.
He said when Axel started school, he was "a beautiful boy".
"By the time they sent him back to us, he was broken, disappointed, traumatised, changed completely beyond belief."
He conceded, however, that "I bear my share of the responsibility".
Axel later attended a school for children excluded from mainstream schools, known as a pupil referral unit.
A senior teacher there earlier told the inquiry that during her first meeting with Axel -- with his parents present -- he admitted taking the knife to his previous school "to use it".
Rudakubana was asked on Wednesday to respond to the teacher's claims that he and Axel's mother did not appear to react to this at the time.
"We were anguished when he said that," Rudakubana said. "Whatever we did or how we dealt with him, it was on the way back home," he added, noting "we were shocked and ashamed".
Rudakubana described in a statement that his son abused and assaulted him and that sometimes he did not know what to do.
Any attempt to impose discipline could trigger an escalation, he said.
"I tried before and he was violent," he replied when asked why he did not make more efforts to exert authority.
Rudakubana said he or his wife reported some violent incidents to the authorities, including to a mental health services team assigned to Axel.
But he did not report them all, fearing his son could be taken away from him.
He said he thought December 2019 referrals to the government's anti-terror programme, known as Prevent, by the pupil referral unit were "malicious".
But by then, he admitted he had "lost control" of his son, including over what he was accessing online.
"I had no authority as a father," Rudakubana said.
The inquiry, which has legal powers to compel witnesses to give evidence, is chaired by a retired senior judge.
Its recommendations are not legally binding, but are likely to inform future policy.
(AFP)
During a visit to Sunway University in Kuala Lumpur
