Tackle this epidemic of knife crime
»»Grace’s family back anti-blade campaign »»Dad calls for an end to wrist-slap sentences
BLADE victim Grace O’malleykumar’s family have backed the Mirror’s anti-knife campaign.
Her dad Dr Sanjoy Kumar said the scourge of knife crime is at epidemic levels and needs to be tackled.
Grace’s brother James said kids should be taught in school about the consequences of carrying weapons.
Grace, 19, was stabbed to death while trying to protect a friend from knifeman Valdo Calocane during his killing spree in Nottingham in June.
Dr Kumar told the Mirror: “A knife is not an offensive weapon, it is a lethal weapon.
“People who carry knives should be sentenced on the basis they are intending to kill someone.
“What we have at the moment is not a deterrent for carrying a knife. They get a slap on the wrist. That needs to change. There also needs to be more coverage in the media about what will happen to you if you get caught with a knife.
“I’m glad there is a Mirror campaign. There needs to be harsher sentences.
“That’s the only way you will tackle this epidemic.
“It’s easier for children to buy a knife than it is for them to buy alcohol.
“How can it be legal to have lethal knives on sale? They are only used for one reason.” James, 17, said: “There 100% should be more done to tackle knife crime in schools.
“I want to go into classrooms and tell children what can happen and show them how real it is.
“Teenagers are not being taught about the dangers.”
Grace’s Irish mum Sinead O’malley has called for mandatory prison sentences for anyone caught carrying a knife.
She told the BBC that carrying a knife is no different to carrying a gun. The Mirror has repeatedly called on the British Government to do more to tackle knife crime.
Our UK campaign – Stop Knives Save Lives – has a series of demands including increasing the number of police on the beat.
Talented hockey player Grace, from Woodford, in East London, could have fled when Calocane attacked her friend Barnaby Webber, 19, from Taunton, Somerset, with an 8in-long blade in the street.
But she bravely tackled the heavilybuilt knifeman. But the two pals, who were students at Nottingham University, were both killed.
Former mechanical engineering student Calocane then used the same weapon to kill school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, as he travelled to work.
Calocane bought the dagger on the internet. Identical versions of it are still available to buy online for €70.
It’s easier for children to buy a knife than to buy alcohol
The killer, from Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, was also carrying a rucksack containing two other knives. A court heard that the paranoid schizophrenic had stopped taking
his anti-psychotic medication before going on the rampage.
Calocane, who had been sectioned at least four times, was on the run from police at the time after failing to attend court in September 2022 for assaulting an officer.
The NHS, police and other officials missed at least eight opportunities to deal with him, the court heard. He had repeatedly been released into the community.
Nottinghamshire Police yesterday apologised for failing to arrest Calocane in the nine months before the killings.
Assistant Chief Constable Rob Griffin said: “We should have done more to arrest him.
“However in my opinion it is highly unlikely he would have received a custodial sentence.
“An arrest might have triggered a route back into mental health services. But as we’ve seen from his previous encounters with those services, it seems unlikely he would have engaged in this process.”
Dr Kumar is “disgusted” by Mr Griffin’s apology. The GP said: “How can he say it was unlikely he would have received a custodial sentence? How does he know that?
“If the defendant had been put in front of a magistrate I think he wouldn’t have been let free.
“In my opinion it’s an enormous missed opportunity. Not enough was done to find and arrest him.
“If he had been in custody then it could have been a different outcome for my daughter and the others.”
Nottinghamshire Healthcare chief executive Ifti Majid said: “Our thoughts are with the families and friends of those people who lost their lives and everyone affected by the tragic events in June 2023.
“Due to ongoing legal proceedings we are unable to comment further.”