Axel Rudakubana’s mother expressed her belief that the bow and arrow found in her son’s room was intended for sports. During the Southport inquiry, Laetitia Muzayire initially denied witnessing any weapons in her son’s room, despite her husband confirming her presence when he discovered the weapon.
Alphonse Rudakubana, in his testimony at the inquiry, mentioned finding the weapon in his son’s room and recalled his wife’s fear upon seeing it. However, Muzayire stated that she only entered the room briefly to change the sheets and did not notice the bow and arrow, knives, firecrackers, or a substance in a box.
She later mentioned that her husband had informed her about seeing a bow and arrow in their son’s room previously, but she had assumed it was for sports and not for harming others. When confronted about her son not leaving the house since March 2022, she admitted to being naive rather than deliberately lying.
Despite her fingerprint being found on knife packaging, the killer’s mother denied seeing it at home on the day of the attack. The inquiry revealed that Muzayire had denied seeing the packaging during a police interview, but her son Dion claimed she showed him the knife packaging on a specific date.
Muzayire expressed her strong aversion to knives due to the tragic events they had caused in the past, emphasizing that she is a loving person who does not harm others. When questioned about her son’s motives for the attack and why he targeted the dance class, she suggested that calling the police could have been a different action to manage the risk posed by Rudakubana.
Parents of one of the victims criticized Rudakubana’s parents, stating they should be held accountable for their role in the incident. They expressed disappointment in the lack of parental responsibility and failure to address the risks posed by their son, emphasizing the need for accountability and remorse for the devastation caused.
The tragic incident also claimed the lives of two other young girls, Bebe King, aged six, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, aged nine.
