Attack Southport Yoga Professor: “If it didn’t go out, everyone was going to die”

We met Leanne for the first time in January. He had suffered six months of waiting for his attacker to be tried. But the day his trial would begin, Axel Rudakubana declared himself guilty of three murder positions and 10 murder attempt. For Leanne, this was another act of malice.

“I discovered that he declared himself guilty of the news,” Leanne recalled. “I felt so angry. We knew I did.

For many witnesses in the case, the statement of guilt of the last minute of Rudakubana, however, manipulator at the time, was a relief. Many feared the possibility of sitting in a courtroom with their attacker, while lawyers lost to the details of the injuries he had inflicted.

Sarah, however, wanted his day in court, saying that he had had all the “stress and anxiety” without the “closure.”

Rudakubana was sentenced to 52 years in prison, the maximum sentence allowed because he was 17 when he carried out the attack.

Leanne said he wanted to speak now because, even after judicial procedures, he still did not feel that the “absolute trauma” of that day had understood to be understood. “I feel that I can be the voice of people who cannot hear that they are involved in history,” he said.

The day his attacker was sentenced, Leanne spoke about the guilt of the survivor he lives with. “I can’t give me compassion or accept praise, since I can live knowing that I survived when the children died,” he told court. She said she was struggling to trust others and trying to see goodness in the world. “For Alice, Elsie, Babe, Heidi and the surviving girls, I am surviving for you,” he said.

He told us about treasured moments with each of the girls who died. She described baby’s “pure emotion” by holding a puppy during a puppy yoga session. The day of the attack was the first time that Leanne met Alice, and the “beautiful smile” of this “safe dancer” left an impression. And recalled Elsie’s enthusiasm for the weekly reading and writing lessons they had together.

It is clear that her memory is what keeps her underway.

“These children represent goodness, I think. Only pure goodness,” he told us. “Happiness. What genuine were. Positive. The love of life and simply get the best of every moment. This is how I remember them.”