Southport attack survivor seven, 'fought like hell' as she was stabbed 33 times

Mum tells inquiry of wounded girl's bravery

- By Chris Riches

A HEROIC seven year-old Southport survivor “fought like hell” to save herself and others during the horrific attack, her mother has revealed.

As the Southport Inquiry opened this week, it heard statements from the families of four girls who survived despite suffering terrible injuries at a dance class last July 29.

Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, all died in the atrocity. Eight other children, class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes were seriously injured, while another 16 minors suffered significant trauma.

Parents of survivors gave more than two hours of testimony at a Liverpool Town Hall hearing yesterday.

Painful

The mother of one girl, known as C1 to protect her anonymity, said the “most painful of truths” about the attacks by Axel Rudakubana, then 17, was there were no adults to help her.

C1 was stabbed 33 times and airlifted to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. Her mum said she became known as “the girl who was dragged back in”, as CCTV footage captured the moment C1, already wounded, tried to escape the studio building.