The mother of teenager Ronan Kanda who was stabbed through the heart with a ninja sword bought online has said she “lost her life” too on the day he was murdered.
Grieving mother Pooja Kanda hopes a new law in her son’s name to crack down on knife sales will help to create a barrier to stop youths from accessing dangerous blades.
She said Ronan, 16, who had never carried a knife or been part of a gang, was totally unaware when he was targeted from behind in a case of mistaken identity in Wolverhampton in 2022.
CCTV of the attack showed Ronan smiling at his phone with his headphones in when he was attacked with a ninja sword that two 16-year-olds had bought online.
“They collected it on the day without any problems,” she told a policing conference in Westminster. “They came from behind and stabbed him with a ninja sword.
“They stabbed him with that sword 20cm deep through his heart. A sword went through his heart. Ronan lost his life. I lost my life.
“And these two 16-year-olds ran back home and continued with their day like nothing happened. One went back on the PlayStation. The other one ordered takeaway.”
Now a passionate campaigner for knife crime reform, she told the annual Association of Police and Crime Commissioners and the National Police Chiefs’ Council summit: “My son who had done nothing to anyone just died on the very street where he was born.”
She said it has given her comfort to know that – under Ronan’s law – these types of weapons will be taken off the market.
“I hope this will put barriers in front of the youths for accessing these type of weapons,” she said.
Her comments come as an Ofsted report published on Wednesday found children as young as 11 are carrying knives for protection because they feel unsafe.
The report, based on findings from six areas, found youth violence is not a city problem and “more far-reaching” than many adults realise.
Children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) are disproportionately at risk of serious youth violence, according to the joint study by Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), HMI Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services and HMI Probation.
The report sets out findings from six joint targeted area inspections which looked at how local partnerships and services respond when children and young people are affected by serious youth violence.
The inspections - which tracked the experiences of hundreds of children between September 2023 and May 2024 in Leeds, Coventry, Somerset, Manchester, Merton and Lancashire - found serious youth violence is “widespread” and whole communities are affected by it.
The report said: “Parents are very concerned for the safety of their children. We frequently heard of children carrying knives in order, as they described it, to protect themselves.
“The fear of knife crime among children is evident. Inspectors were alarmed at how many children and professionals told them that it is common for children to carry a knife. This included children as young as 11.”
