Nottingham stabbing: Grace O'Malley-Kumar died trying to save friend

victims hoped they'd finally get Justice they wanted him tried for the murders of 19-year-old Grace om Alik Kumar her friend and fellow student 19-year-old barnabie Weber and 65-year-old Ian coats the caretaker of a Nottingham Primary School kakani who also uses the name Adam Mendes has denied murder but has admitted three counts of manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility today the prosecution accepted the manslaughter pleas most people were still asleep on the morning of the 13th of June when valdo cakani singled out his three random victims the court heard how Grace and Barnaby had been walking home along ilston Road after a night out at 4 a.m. 200 yards from their student Flats kakani attacked Barnaby repeatedly stabbing him the court heard how Grace tried to protect her friend by pushing cakani away when he turned on on her she fought back despite being repeatedly stabbed as the harrowing details were read out the mothers of both the students began to sob less than an hour later cakani phoned his brother saying this will be the last time I speak to you take the family out of the country his brother asked him if he was going to do anything stupid cakani replied it's already done at around 500 a.m. and 2 miles from the first attack cakani tried to get into a homeless hosle through a window he was punched in the face by the occupant and eventually left the prosecution said he's admitted trying to gain access to kill someone a few minutes later and just around the corner calak killed his third victim Ian coats had stopped his van the court heard how kakani attacked him as he sat in the vehicle continuing to stab him after he pulled him onto the pavement Mr coats had been on his way to work at a nearby primary school he was due to retire in 5 months time the court herd cakani then drove the stolen van to the city center once there he deliberately drove into one pedestrian then two others his pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of all three cakani was arrested at 5:35 police say they had to use a Taser because he was armed with a knife valdo kakani had been diagnosed as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia the court heard that he'd been sectioned four times and on one occasion had been arrested for assaulting a police officer he'd also been given anticho medication but often didn't take it last June in front of thousands Barnaby's mother spoke of her feelings about the man who'd killed her son the Monstrous individual will not Define us this evil person is just that he is just a person today in court Emma Weber got the chance to tell cakani in person you coward she said adding I see through you earlier Grace's father and younger brother spoke to me about their feelings how frustrating is it for you that you won't see a murder trial um it is enormously frustrating but at the same time I've got to say that we do have faith in in the legal system and in the Judiciary um as long as we get the outcome and as long as the public are safe what do you mean the outcome um people like himself cannot be roaming the streets they shouldn't be there uh so that something horrendous like this can be repeated and I don't I I think you know I think if a person like him deserves to be put away and and not have any touch with Society I think there's no two ways about it he's a dangerous man he's more than dangerous to put it politely um and to have him roaming around and doing continuing with his actions is simply not acceptable looking back to that Dreadful morning on the 13th of June we're told that Grace tried to protect her friend Barnaby did that surprise you that she she did something like that not one bit not not at all um that's who she was she would never leave her friend alone put others before herself completely that's exactly who she was and you know we kick ourselves to this day about why did she have to do that but that was just who she was are there lessons for others to learn from this looking back of course I think um I think more more could have been done and I think um I think I think it's it's you know if if this person had been put in front of the courts in front of a magistrate and I think even if he'd had a one degree you know of variation in his trajectory it's a bit like an oil tanker if you change the rudder by one degree you could end up in a different continent and these things might not have happened I think importantly though um in terms of focusing on what could have stopped this from happening I think it's important to also look at knife crime as a whole and as an epidemic cuz I've said it many times and it's easier to get access to a knife than it is to get access to alcohol you know um you can go into the kitchen and get a knife and leave the house and it's as easy as that before you take someone's life and sadly on this occasion three people's lives and attempted another three and I think more needs to be done by the government to stop knife crime what ultimately do you want the legacy of Grace to be I want to make sure as a younger brother that she's never forgotten she doesn't deserve to be she done so much for the community and contributing to making the world a better place that she can't be forgotten and as long as I'm here I'll make sure that doesn't happen and ultimately that is why I've been working so hard in the foundation and I want to make sure that she's always with us even though she's not physically with us I want her to live through us

Channel: Channel 4 News

Views: 114,648

Keywords: Nottingham, Nottingham stabbings, murder charge, manslaughter, channel 4 news, nottingham attacker, Grace OMalley Kumar, Barnaby Webber, Ian Coates, Calocane, University of Nottingham, Nottingham Uni, diminished responsibility, c4 news

Id: Q90xGvSdrIM

Length: 6min 33sec (393 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 23 2024