Southport killer enabled by father

[crowsfeet57]

The evidence given by the school and the social worker highlighted how Axel Rudakubana's deteriorating behaviour was blamed on everyone else by his father. Now the father's own evidence is damning. surely this man should be charged as an accessory to the murders which he had many chances to prevent.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c20e8qd5d53t

Exactly. Thats what makes this case a bit different from other cases of teens carrying out crimes where their parents may be neglectful in terms of not knowing what their DC are up to, who they are doing it with or where they are. These parents practically enabled their son to commit this attack.

They knew he had weapons in his bedroom, his state of mind and had taken a knife on a bus previously.

They were concerned enough the week before to prevent their son getting into a taxi to his old school.

The father said he immediately feared his son was involved when he heard about the murders therefore he must have been aware that there was a specific risk of him carrying out an attack like that because most parents would NOT immediately fear their child was involved in something like that.

The mother apparently tried to prevent the father sharing information with a family support worker and now in giving evidence seems to have amnesia about the events leading up to the attack,

They knew he had said he wanted to stab somebody.

Both parents saw him go out that morning but did nothing to try to see where he was going after apparently not going out for over a year. Any parent knowing their child posed that kind of risk. Knowing he had weapons, seeing him go out when they’d stopped him the week before, would have at least gone after them. They would have seen him get into a taxi and immediately tried to stop it or called the police to stop it, they could have checked to see if his weapons were still in his bedroom while on the phone to the police. Amazon said someone who looked over 25 accepted the delivery of knives used in the attack so it wasn’t him.

There were 15 minutes to stop the taxi or get a police car to follow it to stop him when he got to the community centre. The parents said they didn’t see him get into a taxi from the house so he must have got in it away from the house which may have given further time to stop it while he waiting for it/walking to it.

Too right the parents are culpable. He was a ticking time bomb and it looks like they let him go off, horrifically murdering little kids and leaving the other kids and adults looking after them with wounds and after effects for life. They may not have envisaged him attacking little girls but they knew someone was at risk, even themselves with those weapons in his bedroom.

They knew better than anyone else what was going on in their home. They found the weapons, knew he wanted to kill. At the very least all weapons should have been handed in at the police station immediately, knives, scissors, etc, should have been locked away. Once they knew he was buying weapons online, he shouldn’t have had access to any money at all.

I think the police may have taken action if they were alerted to the weapons in his bedroom. Especially as he’d previously taken a knife on a bus, they’d picked him up and he’d said he wanted to stab somebody while in the police car! They may have searched his room and found the ricin. He would have been arrested for having the ricin and the horror he created may have been averted.

This is a not a case of the parents not being aware.

FFS weapons in his bedroom that they knew about!

The father is quoted as saying: ‘I knew, of course, if I tell the police [ie about the weapons & violence] they would take him [AR] away’.

I simply can’t see how liability cannot arise from this statement.

This is a million miles away from all of the dedicated parents on this thread who have desperately tried to get help for children and failed. There is simply no comparison.

He knew the risk. Moreover he knew (or believed) it could be prevented by taking his son to a place where he would be controlled.

He chose to stand in the way of preventing it.

This could happen again. Punishment may deter others from similarly failing society & basic human decency.

And we wonder why innocent children contine to be at risk and lose their lives! Some of those on this thread need to take a long hard look at themselves and forget it’s not all about them and their experiences.
It’s clear that the Dad knew his son had weapons, had made threats to kill and had been stopped from going out previously armed, yet did nothing to alert anyone to this or to stop that animal leaving the house that day. Coupled with the evidence from professionals of his own demeanour and behaviour, how he can live with himself I don’t know. If the government want to make a stand, then they find a way of prosecuting this man. But we know it won’t happen and he will continue to be a drain on our society, as is his animal son.
Let’s not forget, those poor innocent babies went to a dance class and were murdered in cold blood. If anyone could have prevented it and didn’t, then they have blood on their hands and should face consequences

I'm sorry but wasn't his dad a martial arts teacher or something? He had zero reason to be scared of his son it should've been the other way around, and if he was then accepting boxes of weapons on his behalf doesn't exactly make him or his family safer?! Kids used to be scared of their dads, mine would've kicked the shit out of any of us-not saying that's right but we wouldn't have been hoarding weapons in his house.

Sadly, I think this is all true. I also suspect that what has been disclosed at the inquest (the weapons, withholding information, escalating violence, school suggesting he was watching unsuitable content, his disturbing comments) is only a snapshot of their knowledge. It’s the stuff that they have to admit knowledge of, as it’s in record.
The text sent by his brother suggests they knew there was escalation in his behaviour. As does the fact his dad intervened in his previous attempt to take a taxi to his old school.
His parents should have tried harder and done more - they knew more about his behaviours than anyone. Who knows if those pleas would have fallen on deaf ears but it doesn’t feel like they tried harder enough.
It’s truly heartbreaking.

I still don’t understand why they didn’t go after him after he left home without saying anything, having stopped him the week before, after having not gone out for a year, knowing his mental state and him having weapons.

They knew he’d left the house as his father said he heard the door and shouted to his mother. His mother said she watched him walk up the street but thought it was OK as he didn’t look like he had a weapon although she was nervous. What kind of weapon did she think she’d see from the upstairs window then when he must have had it in his pocket!

I have an ASD young adult DS and he has gone out unannounced in the past when he went through a period of struggling with depression, no propensity for violence, wanting to harm anybody, having weapons or not leaving the house for long periods though, only concerned about him harming himself, and we used to follow him at a distance to check he was OK and at one point put a tracker in an inside coat pocket.

Can’t fathom letting a severely mentally ill young man with a propensity for violence, a history of wanting to stab somebody and knowing he had weapons bought for no other purpose than to harm someone, to just leave the house without trying to stop him, follow him or alert the police.

Even if they failed to stop the attack, at least they would have tried to.

They need to be done for accessory or aiding and abetting IMO.

Hard agree.

The main focus of violence for AR [outside the household] was the 'bullies' at his old school several miles away and where he had attempted to visit the previous week on the last day of term

So leaving home wouldn't have held that threat - tho' unbeknownst to his parents he had a new target and a taxi round the corner

The statements from the victims parents are all unequivocal in their blame towards AR's parents. Other agencies are mentioned but AR's parents are the main focus.

I'm not sure if there is information the public aren't privy to but all 3 sets of parents lay the blame with AR's parents, particularly his dad.

This is surely very telling? They have all the information, they've seen AR's parents give their evidence, they all clearly believe AR's parents could have and should have done something to save their children.

Can't help but think he does have some undiagnosed severe mental illness-the professionals don't always get it right, and I can't imagine he has been very talkative or cooperative.

Shouldn't let it get that far.
He obviously had no discipline as a child and it escalated.

He still owes the taxi driver for the fare the freak.

Agree with this. Unfortunately, unless he was sectioned or locked up permanently, he would have still gone on to kill someone. If he was caught in possession of a knife, the chances are he may have been detained or questioned for a day or two, but would have been back on the streets, as carrying a knife isn’t a locking up, throwing away the key incident.

The evidence is completely damning and his family knew about his cache of weapons. It’s outrageous that they didn’t try to do something about him.

This makes no sense. Parents have a legal responsibility for their underaged children. No such legal responsibility exists among other familial relationships / relationships with adult children.

I’ve read the last few days testimonies with utter horror and just cannot comprehend it all. Not so much as bothering to police internet access because “my boys would never look up anything bad online”, finding a bow and arrow in his room and leaving it there in case he got mad, finding ricin seeds and thinking he must have taken up gardening, among some of the most bizarre claims. It’s pitiful and contemptible both at once. The father seemed resigned that if AR was going to kill anyone it would just be him anyway, so there wasn’t much to be done about it. It’s some of the strangest, saddest stuff I’ve ever read. My heart aches for the girls’ parents having to sit there and process it.

I don't know how the parents are coping hearing the fact that he could have been stopped just makes it even more unbearable. His parents have blood on their hands but of course they will be let off.

Exactly this! Although I call BS on the father thinking he would be the only target as so many instances show differently:
Carrying knives to school
Attacking pupil with hockey club
Caught on the bus with knife
He himself stopped taxi taking son to old school (as he "knew" it would be foe no good purpose)
So they KNEW he was a danger to others and had weapons...

I’d kill myself if I was the parent of that creature. I literally could not live with the shame. The fact they can speaks volumes.

And signed for, no less. The faux naivety on this thread is sickening.

When my autistic son was having multiple violent meltdowns a day, and I was covered in bruises, I was referred to primary care mental health services for stress.

They told me to try mindfullness.

This is so, so awful. I'm so sorry how you've been so let down, trying everything and just crap "advice" given to you. I really think this kind of story should be on the news. There's an absolute mental health emergency in this country.

You need to read the transcript. That man blamed everybody but his son, he even complained about childline contacting the police when the vile specimen told the helpline he had a knife and was going to use it.
When parents fail the authorities need to take over, by sectioning people.

I've read it.

It reminds me of being in an abusive marriage.

The police were called, I defended my ex, his behaviour escalated and I defended him some more, I blamed everyone and everything else but him because that's what I thought would keep me safest.

It's not straight forward.

Really horrible and insensitive thread.

He asked for help several times and didn't get it, so he knew there was a problem. If you have ever dealt with SEND services you will know that blaming parents or saying 'didn't engage' is an easy way to keep your caseload down. Not blaming the professionals, because there is only so much they can do and they are not resourced enough for demand. It just shows that there wasn't a clear and proactive escalation pathway, and if the professionals didn't know it, how did you expect his father to?

You really should only comment on what you understand. You only see a snippets the situation from a news report.