A student who died in the Nottingham attacks two years ago was having the “best year of her life”, her father said on the anniversary of her murder.
Valdo Calocane, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, killed Grace O’Malley-Kumar, Barnaby Webber and Ian Coates, and attempted to kill three more people in Nottingham on June 13 2023.
He was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order in January 2024 after admitting manslaughter by diminished responsibility and attempted murder.
Speaking on ITV ’s Good Morning Britain, Grace O’Malley-Kumar’s father, Dr Sanjoy Kumar said: “Grace loved coming up to Nottingham.
“She loved the people of Nottingham, she loved the university, she was having the best year of her life.
“She was playing her hockey and she was studying her medical degree, she was going to be a doctor in Nottingham, the best year of her life, and it was so horrifically taken away from her.
“The people of Nottingham have been incredible and we’d really like to thank everyone for their support that they have given us, and they’ve taken us to their hearts.”
Dr Kumar was speaking ahead of a memorial walk being held in the city to remember the victims two years after their deaths.
The relatives of Grace and those of Barnaby Webber and 65-year-old caretaker Ian Coates will meet at St Paul’s Church in Lenton Road at 11.30am today before walking to the two locations of the attacks.
They say this is “to show respect for the horror that their loved ones endured at the hands of this monster”, to “wish them peace for wherever they may now be” and “mark the importance of their fight for justice”.
Mr Webber’s mother Emma Webber said: “We will lay flowers, with our love and memories of three wonderful human beings.”
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