Axel Rudakubana’s brother feared the Southport attacker would kill someone two years before he carried out the atrocity, an inquiry has heard.
Giving evidence via video link from a secret location on Tuesday, Dion Rudakubana said his brother reminded him of the sociopathic murderer in the film No Country For Old Men.
Axel Rudakubana was 17 when he murdered Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, and attempted to murder 10 others at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on 29 July last year.
Dion Rudakubana, two years older than his brother, described violent outbursts from his younger brother, which he said used to take place when they were in the car on the way to school together, but got worse when Rudakubana was expelled in October 2019.
The 21-year-old said in a statement that his brother’s behaviour was “unpredictable and inconsistent” and that any disagreement could “escalate into an argument”.
The inquiry was shown messages Dion Rudakubana sent to a friend when he returned home during his first year of university in December 2022.
In the messages, Dion Rudakubana said: “The risk of [Axel] doing something potentially fatal is the major concern.”
He told the inquiry: “There had been various events where we had to call the police out.”
In another message, he said: “The fights are scary because of the danger of someone dying.
“My brother doesn’t really show mercy so my dad just has to try not to die. We hide knives to mitigate that factor.”
Richard Boyle, counsel to the inquiry, asked: “You had serious fears that your brother would kill a member of your family?”
Dion Rudakubana replied: “If things escalated to that point.” He said he thought the fear existed before Christmas 2022. “I remember being scared going to university,” he said.
He said he could not remember being asked whether Rudakubana was violent by social services or the police. Asked if he thought to tell anyone, he said: “No because it had been brewing, it’s not something that just appeared.”
Dion Rudakubana agreed that his parents had ‘“lost control” of Axel and that there was a “heavy risk” if they punished him.
He said he had watched the film No Country For Old Men and the main character, who killed more than 10 people and he said was meant to be a sociopath, reminded him of his brother.
“That’s why it concerned me,” he said. “I felt the threat to be within the home. Even then nothing had ever come of it.”
Dion Rudakubana said his brother “dominated the living room” of the family home from 2021 so he did not spend time in there. He said: “I was told by my parents to be careful.”
His last interaction with his brother was in summer 2023 when his parents asked the younger sibling to say goodbye and he responded by throwing a metal bottle at him, he said.
Rudakubana’s parents, Alphonse Rudakubana and Laetitia Muzayire, are due to give evidence to the inquiry later in the week. Reporting restrictions prevent publication of any details that may identify where the family currently lives.
