Family members of the three people killed by Valdo Calocane in Nottingham last year addressed the killer in court as they read powerful victim impact statements on Tuesday.
Grace O’Malley-Kumar’s father, Sanjoy Kumar
“Grace, my daughter, was my greatest gift, my best present and the love of my life. I thought I was the luckiest man in the world having my daughter and my son. I called her ‘my little girl’, my ‘Gracie girl’.
“Grace was a kind, warm and generous person. Her friends have attested to the fact that she was the friend you would want.
“With her enormous levels of compassion and empathy, it was obvious she was going to work in a caring profession and when she decided she would study medicine, I was so proud she would carry on the tradition of generations of doctors in our families.”
Sanjoy Kumar told the court how Grace aspired to become a trauma and orthopaedic surgeon and would have liked to have trained with the Royal Army Medical Corps and then the NHS.
Her father also spoke about his daughter’s sporting prowess.
“Grace represented the county of Essex at girls’ cricket, she represented her country playing hockey for the under-16s and under-18s England teams. She took so much pride in representing her country.
“And her service did not stop there. During the national emergency of Covid, Grace did not hide away, she did the opposite,” he said, explaining that she had become one of the youngest vaccinators in England.
He added: “In her short 19 years, she served and represented her country more than some people do in a lifetime.”
Speaking about the night his daughter was killed, he said: “From the CCTV it is clear that Grace had the opportunity to run away but she bravely intervened. She would never leave a friend in adversity. It was not in her nature.
“She heroically and valiantly fought you. Like a hero she put herself in harm’s way, but unfortunately because of the lethal weapon you carried to hurt my child, she stood no chance.
“You showed yourself caught on CCTV to be a cold, calculating and a cowardly killer.
“You casually walked away leaving my child dying in the street. We as a family are tormented by the thought of what she had to endure. Her last moments fighting brutality and terror that you brought to the streets of Nottingham.”
He added: “In our case, my daughter, our daughter, the country’s daughter, our heroic and beloved daughter and friend to many will for ever remain our ‘Amazing Grace’.
Grace O’Malley-Kumar’s mother, Sinead O’Malley-Kumar
“I feel absolute desolation and unfathomable grief at her loss,” said Sinead O’Malley-Kumar. “The world is a more sorrowful place” without the “cheery noisy fun presence in our home”.
“My daily life is consumed with her loss and full of tears. I am dizzy with grief, I have been to the darkest corners of my mind.
“The revolting cowardice of the defendant compared to the heroism of our Gracie is incomparable.
“I’m so proud of the person she was. She was a wonderful friend.
“She always stood up for her friends and she paid the ultimate price with her life. I remain immensely proud of her bravery.”
Images of the way her daughter had been “butchered at the defendant’s hands” had meant she was unable to go back to work as a consultant anaesthetist at the Royal Free hospital in London.
She told the court: “From her parents’ point of view, I would like to say that the term ‘every parent’s worst nightmare’ has been mentioned many times in the reporting of this abhorrent event.
“But a nightmare only lasts in sleep and slumber, it is a bad dream, it is not reality. I would like to tell you that for me my sleep, much disrupted as it is, my dreams are not nightmares. They are the only respite I have from the horror of my waking hours. I am bereft and lost.”
Addressing Calocane, she said: “I do not have room in my head or my heart for consideration of forgiveness, but I’m sure you could not care less.
“Finally, all I can say is rest in peace my beautiful daughter, sister, granddaughter, a niece and cousin, a cherished friend to many and a godmother.
“There is forever an empty seat in our car, an empty place at our table, a cavernous space, an empty hole in our little family. Life will never be the same without you. Come to me in my dreams Gracie. Give me a hug and tell me you love me as I love you for ever.”
Grace O’Malley-Kumar’s brother, James O’Malley-Kumar
The 17-year-old brother of Grace O’Malley-Kumar was the first to speak on behalf of his family. He described his sister’s killer as “animalistic and calculated”, adding that Calocane had “demonic ideas” when he stabbed her.
James said the killing of his sister had caused him to lose his faith. He said: “Your cold-blooded actions have concluded God’s existence in my mind.
“No god would allow people like you to exist,” he told Calocane across the packed courtroom. “You have put me, as a child, through hell, which is what you deserve.”
The teenager said his sister’s “aura and zest for life were unmatched. Her impact only as a young girl reached so far and wide across the community.”
Barnaby Webber’s father, David Webber
Barnaby’s father described his son as a “vibrant, loving boy who was growing into a man and starting to live his best life” at Nottingham University.
He said: “As a father, I, like so many parents, dreaded him leaving home and struggled to come to terms with it but I loved my visits to see him; he always had a smile to welcome me.
“This is something that due to your unbelievably savage actions I will never see again.”
He said: “My last memory of my son was seeing him at peace in the hospital. No parent should see this and the image will never leave me. It is imprinted in my mind for ever.
“I kissed him for the last time and told him I would bring him home to his family that day and fight until my last breath to get justice for him, it’s what he would have done for me or any other person in need.”
David Webber said he had been forced to “watch the devastation that this monster has caused to my family with no way of being able to change it”, adding, that “your calculated, despicable murderous actions that night are not repairable in this or my lifetime.
“Barney was starting to form his life plans, he had a fascination with planes and helicopters, literally being able to identify what was flying overhead by its engine noise.
“He talked to me about wanting to serve in one of the British militaries and to fly for them. I have no doubt he would have achieved this and been an asset to this country’s armed forces.”
He said he had looked forward to seeing his son get married and to becoming a grandparent. “This will never happen now with Barney. You will never be forgiven.”
“Your evil, vicious, selfish, unforgivable actions have caused damage that can never be repaired, not only to my family and myself but to countless other people. All I’m left with now is my trust in our legal system to deliver you the sentence you deserve, so that you can never be a danger to society again.
“My final comment to you is I believe in karma and what comes around goes around, and I hope that you get all you deserve for the rest of your life.”
Barnaby Webber’s mother, Emma Webber
“Barney didn’t lose his life on the 13th of June. It was stolen from him in the most vicious, unprovoked, senseless and evil way imaginable,” she told the court.
Speaking to her son’s killer, she added: “You coward, they didn’t stand a chance did they?”
While she said she held no hate based on race or religion, she felt “utter rage and pure hatred for you, the murderer that sits before me today”.
“I do hope that what remains of your dark soul will feel true remorse for what you have done. There must be appropriate justice served and punishment for the actions of this one monstrous individual.”
She said of Barnaby, her “fellow left-handed soulmate”: “I thought we would have decades more. I would give anything to hear that voice again.”
She vowed to leave “no stone unturned” in getting justice for her son.
Ian Coates’s son, James Coates
“Mine is only short, so Valdo, I hope you’re paying attention,” said James Coates to his father’s killer.
“My dad was five months away from retirement. He had worked hard all his life to provide for his family. While on his way to work, he was brutally murdered. An innocent life taken with no remorse.
“My dad should have had his retirement to look forward to, a chance to finally relax and enjoy his passions, decades of fishing and odd jobs around the house to keep him busy until old age would ultimately get the better of him.
“But he didn’t get that chance because a selfish monster decided to go on a spree killing and take three lives, as well as attempt to take more. We shouldn’t be here. We should be at work, enjoying days off on our normal lives, but we can’t because he killed our father.”
He told the court: “You can’t imagine how hard it is to take that phone call, to be told your dad has been killed in a murder spree.
“Everybody loses somebody close to them over time, it’s inevitable, but you accept old age knocking at your door and you shed a tear to loved ones taken by illness, but to have a life taken so horrifically is something your heart and soul will never come to terms with.
“Our lives have been for ever changed, the lives of all the victims, multiple families affected because of this awful crime. The effect this has had on us can’t be put into words. We have lost part of us, 50% of our DNA, the reason for our very existence, gone through no fault of his own.
“Valdo Calocane, you claim the voices told you to kill these innocent people. Now listen to me, kill yourself.”
