Grace was a hero.. she could’ve run but that’s the person she was
Irish woman’s TV tribute to stab victim daughter
THE Irish mum of a 19-year-old girl who was one of three people stabbed to death in a bloody rampage remembered her daughter as a “hero”.
The UK Government has ordered a review of the mental health services received by killer Valdo Calocane, 32, who was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the attacks.
However, the families of Grace O’malleykumar and Barnaby Webber are calling for a public enquiry into the circumstances of the case, which resulted in Calocane being sentenced to an indefinite hospital order last week.
He was convicted of manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility rather than murder.
On ITV’S This Morning yesterday, Grace and Barnaby’s parents said they wanted a public enquiry and legislative changes in areas such as the possession of knives.
Dr Sanjoy Kumar said: “What we want as parents is that this person [Calocane] never, ever comes back out.
“We’ve not been given that reassurance. As a father, I’d really like the reassurance that this man is never able to come out in public again.
“Every government is there to protect the public and we just want this guy never to come out. It’s not just for us.
“We’ll be gone in 20 or 30 years, what about our children and their children who will have to perhaps face this guy being released?”
Grace’s mother, Sinead O’malley-kumar, a consultant anaesthetist from Dublin, said she respected the judge’s decision but added there were still questions the family “are not completely convinced about”.
She added: “This is a man who, despite having paranoid schizophrenia – which we don’t deny – completed a degree.
“He was clearly able to focus, he engaged with his academic requirements. He must have had lucid times.”
PSYCHOTIC
Ms O’malley-kumar said nobody had raised concerns about him being acutely psychotic or needing to see a psychiatrist.
She added: “That’s always going to play on our minds – that the diminished [responsibility] could have been a murder charge... so, we do have questions – but more about the failings leading up to it.”
Calocane attacked Barnaby and Grace on the night of June 13, 2023 as the two friends were walking home together.
Grace was stabbed in her abdomen, chest, hands and arms when she tried to help Barnaby.
The killer subsequently stabbed 65 yearold school caretaker Ian Coates to death before stealing his van and running over three people.
Grace’s mother remembered her as a hero and said the family had not been surprised that she bravely tried to save her friend during the attack.
Ms O’malley-kumar added: “Grace had been a hero and stood up for her friends since she was eight years old.
“She always stood up for the underdog and never let anybody be bullied or marginalised. The fact that she stood up for Barney and tried to intervene in his attack doesn’t surprise us at all. It’s just the way she was.
“It breaks our hearts. She could have run. But we don’t think about that – it’s not ‘what if ’ anymore.
“She did what she did and that’s the person she was.”
Barnaby’s mother Emma also praised Grace for her brave attempt to intervene in her son’s attack.
She said: “I wish she had run but she is my hero, and she will always be my hero.”