The British teenager accused of killing three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class this summer pleaded not guilty Wednesday to all the charges against him.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, refused to speak during his court appearance, so not guilty pleas were entered on his behalf by the court.
Rudakubana has not spoken at any of his court appearances. Wednesday’s was the first in which he didn’t cover his face.
Justice Julian Goose described Rudakubana as “mute of malice,” a British legal term for a defendant who’s capable of speaking but chooses not to, the BBC reported.
The teen faces three counts of murder for the fatal stabbings of Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6, on July 29 in the English town of Southport. Rudakubana is also charged with stabbing eight more kids and two adults.
In October, additional charges were added against the teenager, who was 17 at the time of the attack. He was accused of manufacturing ricin at his home in Merseyside and possessing an al-Qaeda terror manual. Not guilty pleas were also entered for Rudakubana on those charges.
The teen faces 16 charges in total. His trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 20 and is expected to last roughly four weeks.
The vicious stabbing attacks sparked several days of violence by far-right groups in the U.K. after it was erroneously reported the suspected attacker was an asylum-seeking migrant who’d recently arrived in Britain. Rudakubana was raised in the country, having been born in Cardiff, Wales.
Despite the terror manual on Rudakubana’s computer, authorities have not qualified the fatal stabbings as a terrorist attack. Investigators say the motive for the attack remains unclear. No ricin was discovered at the scene in Southport.
With News Wire Services
