The trial of Axel Rudakubana, arrested for three counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder, is expected to last four weeks.
It was the first day of summer vacation and the little girls at the Hart Space, a sanctuary hidden behind a row of houses, were there to dance to the music of Taylor Swift.
The day of joy turned to terror when an intruder with a knife attacked the girls and their teacher on 29 July in the seaside town of Southport in northwest England.
The teen arrested in the aftermath goes on trial today on three counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder.
Several months after his arrest on the day of the killings, Axel Rudakubana, 18, was charged with additional counts for production of a biological toxin ricin and possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism. He had an al-Qaida manual in a document on his computer.
The trial is expected to last four weeks.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, who has refused to speak in court, had pleas of not guilty entered on his behalf at Liverpool Crown Court. He was 17 at the time of the attack.
Prosecutors haven’t said what they believe led to the rampage. Police have said the stabbings haven’t been classified as acts of terrorism because the motive isn’t yet known.
Rudakubana, who was born in Wales to Rwandan immigrants, is charged with murder in the deaths of Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6.
Eight other girls, ranging in age from 7 to 13, were wounded, along with instructor Leanne Lucas and Jonathan Hayes, who worked in a business next door and intervened. Fifteen other girls, as young as 5, were at the class but uninjured.
The stabbings led to a week of rioting across parts of England and Northern Ireland after Rudakubana — then unnamed — was falsely identified as an asylum-seeker who had recently arrived in Britain by boat.
Violent groups made up mostly of men who were mobilized by far-right activists on social media attacked mosques and hotels housing migrants, tossed beer bottles, rocks and other weapons at police, and set fire to cars as they clashed with officers in dozens of cities.
More than 1,200 people were arrested for the disorder and hundreds have been jailed for up to nine years in prison.
