She’d never leave a pal
BRAVE Grace O’Malley-Kumar could have fled when Valdo Calocane pulled out a terrifying double-edged combat knife and attacked her friend.
But instead of running for her life, Grace tackled the knifeman, suffering defensive wounds to her arms and hands as she tried to stop Calocane stabbing Barnaby Webber.
A court heard yesterday how she tried to fight off Calocane, pushing him away and into the road before he also began to stab her.
Grace and Barnaby, both 19 and students at the University of Nottingham, were stabbed to death in the city as they walked home at 4am last June after a night out.
Grace’s brother James, 17, wearing his sister’s earring in her memory, told Sky News: “She tried her best to save her friend. That’s how Grace lost her life.
“She would never leave a friend. That was very evident from her last moments. She passed fighting.”
Her mum Sinead O’Malley said: “The revolting cowardice of her killer compared to the heroism of our Gracie is incomparable. She always stood up for her friends and she paid the ultimate price with her life. She was clearly brave beyond words.”
Grace’s dad Dr Sanjoy Kumar said: “She would never leave a friend in adversity. It was not in her nature. She heroically and valiantly fought.”
Paranoid schizophrenic Calocane had stopped taking his anti-psychotic medication and Dr Kumar told ITV News: “I think there were gaps in treatment and I’m sure that should the gaps not have been there this could have been prevented.”
Calocane, 32, wearing a black suit, shirt and tie, and flanked by security officers and hospital staff, was in the dock at Nottingham crown court for yesterday’s sentencing hearing.
He admitted killing Grace and Barnaby, and school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, who he knifed to death
She tried her best to save her friend. That’s how Grace lost her life. She passed fighting Student tried to save her friend
JAMES O’MALLEY-KUMAR BROTHER OF STUDENT KILLED IN STABBING
before stealing his van. He then drove into Nottingham city centre, twice careering into pedestrians.
But Calocane denied murdering Grace, Barnaby and Ian and his pleas of guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility were accepted by prosecutors.
He also admitted three counts of attempted murder for the van attacks.
Prosecutor Karim Khalil KC struggled to contain his emotions as he outlined the final moments of Grace, Barnaby and Ian.
Medical student Grace, of Woodford, East London, and history student Barnaby, of Taunton, Somerset, had been subjected to a “deliberate and merciless” attack.
Mr Khalil said Grace had shown “incredible bravery” trying to protect Barnaby, but the attack on Grace was then “as uncompromisingly brutal” as the one on her friend. A local resident had heard an “awful, blood-curdling scream” during the attack. Family members in the court sobbed as he said Grace’s injuries were too severe and she collapsed.
Police and paramedics arrived within minutes but both Barnaby and Grace’s injuries were unsurvivable.
Postmortem examinations showed they both suffered multiple stab wounds to the chest and abdomen.
Less than an hour after the attack Calocane called his brother and told him: “This will be the last time I speak
Killer used a two-edged combat knife
Barney did not lose his life. It was stolen in the most vicious, senseless and evil way
EMMA WEBBER MOTHER OF STUDENT KILLED IN NOTTINGHAM ATTACK
to you.” Asked if he was going to do something stupid, the mature student replied: “It is already done.”
Calocane then walked across the city to a hostel, and tried to break in through a window. He fled after a resident punched him in the face and he then came across school caretaker Ian, who was driving to work.
Ian was “repeatedly stabbed” and left for dead by Calocane, who drove off in his van. Ian, who lived in
Nottingham and was weeks away from retirement, was pronounced dead at the scene.
After driving the van into pedestrians, Calocane was finally stopped and tasered by police. He was armed with a “double-edged fighting knife”, bought on the internet, two other back-up knives and a length of scaffold pole in his rucksack.
Grace’s dad Dr Kumar called for action on knife crime. He said: “It’s at epidemic proportions and yet lawmakers seem to be doing nothing. I think laws need to be changed.”
He criticised the decision to accept guilty pleas to manslaughter rather than put Calocane on trial for murder.
He told the BBC: “Justice has not been done for our daughter.”
Calocane is currently in Ashworth Hospital, a secure psychiatric unit.
Mr Justice Turner must decide if he should receive an indefinite hospital order or life in jail. Prosecutors want Calocane to serve a prison term, while his defence team will today argue he should be treated in hospital.
Ifti Majid, of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Due to ongoing legal proceedings we are unable to comment.” The sentencing hearing at Nottingham crown court continues today.