The father of a girl injured in the Southport attacks found her lying in the street where she had collapsed as she told him: “Daddy, I’m OK,” the inquiry has heard.
The girl had staggered out of the dance class after she was stabbed in the chest and arm, and then stabbed another six times in the back when she tried to defend her younger sister.
As the children struggle to process what happened, another girl has recently told her parents that “bad things happen in the holidays.”
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Her mother told the inquiry: “As her parents, we struggle with the answer. We try to reassure her, we tell her she is safe, but she looks us in the eye and says, ‘but something bad did happen,’ and we cannot argue with that.”
Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were killed at the Taylor Swift-themed class on 29 July last year by Axel Rudakubana, who was jailed for a minimum of 52 years.
The child survivors have been given anonymity so that their parents can describe what they have been through, in often emotional statements.
The mother of Child C2 and Child C7 told the inquiry that at first the younger girl thought the attacker had entered the room to bring the teacher, Leanne Lucas’s, puppy to see them.
The older girl explained that he had attacked others, then Leanne, before turning on her, stabbing her in the chest and then, as she tried to defend herself, her arm.
Rudakubana then stood over the younger girl, with the knife raised. Her sister told her mother: “Mum, she was crouched, she couldn’t move, her face was pure fear.”
The older girl dragged her sister out of the way to protect her and was then stabbed another six times in the back.
As they scrambled to escape, the two girls became separated, the older pushed through the landing by Heidi Liddle, who had organised the dance class with her friend, before running down the stairs and into the car park.
CCTV shows her outside, alone and barely able to walk, holding on to a van for support before falling to the floor, where she lay until a neighbour ran to help her.
The younger sister had become stuck with two other girls on the landing until one of them grabbed her hand and put it on the railing, telling her to run, at which point she was stabbed in the back.
She was able to run down the stairs and escape to a neighbour’s house, the last to make it to safety.
When their father arrived, he found the younger girl in the neighbour’s house, but could not find his elder daughter.
Prepare yourselves, hospital staff said before surgery
Running back into the street, he eventually spotted her legs sticking out from behind a white van, covered in blood and barely breathing, as a neighbour applied pressure to her wounds.
Her mother said: “Unbelievably brave in the moment, she told her daddy that she was ok.”
At Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, her parents were told to speak to her before she was rushed into surgery, to tell her that they loved her and to “prepare ourselves.”
When she woke up in hospital, her first words were asking about her sister: “Is she OK?”
‘Saved her sister’s life that day’
Their mother said: “I thank God for each of them each and every day. Both of our daughters showed a level of bravery no child should ever need to show.
“Our eldest saved her sister’s life that day. Despite her own injuries, she put herself in harm’s way to protect her little sister.”
However, the youngest girl is now terrified of sudden noises and has nightmares, seeing the killer standing at the end of her bed.
The older girl cries in private, has panic attacks, which sometimes make her pass out, and carries scars all over her body.
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Their daughters currently know little about the events of the day and about the attacker, but they have asked questions such as his name and his age and the youngest asked: “Are his mummy and daddy really mad at him for what he’s done?”
Their mother said they have continued to try hard at school despite everything and added: “To our girls, we are proud beyond words of both of you. We want you to know that you are our heroes and the courage you both showed that day and every day since is beyond belief.”
The inquiry continues.
