The families of three people stabbed to death in Nottingham have spoken of their contempt towards the killer, with one of the mothers saying she felt “utter rage and pure hatred” towards him, as prosecutors accepted his plea of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Families of the victims faced Valdo Calocane, who goes by the name Adam Mendes, in court after he denied murder but admitted the killings, and attempts to kill three others, in a spree of violence in June.
Teenage university student Grace O’Malley-Kumar was revealed to have shown “incredible bravery” by attempting to fight off Calocane and save her friend, Barnaby Webber, when they were attacked walking home from a night out.
Grace’s father, Dr Sanjoy Kumar, told Calocane he was a “a cold, cowardly and calculating killer” as he praised his daughter who “heroically and valiantly fought you. Like a hero she put herself in harm’s way.”
Webber’s mother, Emma Webber, said her son’s life was “stolen in the most vicious, unprovoked, senseless and evil way imaginable”.
“I have utter rage and pure hatred for you, the murderer that sits before me today,” she said. “I do hope that what remains of your dark soul will feel true remorse for what you have done.”
James Coates, the son of Ian Coates who was Calocane’s third victim, said the defendant was “a selfish monster who decided to go on a spree killing”. “To have a life taken so horrifically is something you will never come to terms with,” he said.
At the start of sentencing proceedings at Nottingham crown court on Tuesday, prosecutor Karim Khalil KC described how the defendant carried out the “deliberate and merciless” attacks in the small hours of 13 June, after calling his brother to say: “This is the last time I will talk to you.”
His first victims, 19-year-old university students O’Malley-Kumar and Webber, were just 200 metres from their accommodation when Calocane followed them and stabbed Webber repeatedly with a dagger.
“Grace, demonstrating incredible bravery, sought to protect her friend and fight off the killer, pushing him away and into the road,” Khalil said.
The defendant then fought with her for 30 seconds, stabbing her repeatedly, before returning to inflict further violence on Webber, who was lying in the road.
Witnesses described hearing “an awful, blood-curdling scream” and seeing O’Malley-Kumar crawl towards the houses on the opposite side of the road shouting for help. The CCTV footage of the attack, in which the killer emerged from a hiding place to fatally stab the pair, was not shown in court.
The killer appeared in the dock flanked by five people, including two NHS workers, wearing a black suit jacket with a light-coloured shirt and glasses. He did not react as details of the attacks were read out.
The court was packed with the families of the three who were killed, as well as university friends of the students wearing green and yellow ribbons representing the colours of the Nottingham University sports teams they were both dedicated to.
Sobs could be heard as details of the attacks on the pair were described.
CCTV footage played in court showed the killer walking calmly around the city in the hours before the attack, dressed in black and grey and carrying a rucksack and a holdall later found to contain multiple weapons.
After the first killings, Calocane called his brother and told him to take the family out of the country. When asked: “Are you going to do something stupid?”, Calocane replied: “It’s already done.”
He then attempted to break into Seely Hirst House, a hostel for vulnerable homeless adult men, admitting later he had intended to kill someone there, but was unable to gain entry.
Calocane then attacked 65-year-old school caretaker Ian Coates, who was driving past, stabbing him repeatedly as he sat in the driver’s seat and leaving him for dead.
He stole Coates’s van and travelled into the city centre, where he drove into a number of pedestrians. Wayne Birkett, who was crossing the road, was flipped into the air and rolled on to the pavement, receiving multiple serious injuries, including a fractured skull, which caused a bleed to his brain.
He also drove at speed into Sharon Miller and Marcin Gawronski, who were walking to work. Both were “extremely fortunate to survive the impact”, Khalil said.
The court heard how Calocane, who was born in Guinea-Bissau and came to the UK with his family in 2007 when he was 16, had been receiving treatment from mental health services since 2020, including being treated with anti-psychotic medication.
Khalil said Calocane, who has paranoid schizophrenia and was sectioned at least four times prior to the attacks, “actively concealed symptoms of psychosis” and refused to take his medication.
On one occasion in 2020, he was admitted to hospital after breaking down two doors to different apartments in his block, and in 2021 he assaulted a police officer during a search of his flat in which a bag of unused medication was found.
Kumar said there were “missed opportunities” to alter Calocane’s course of action, including the fact he had never been formally charged with any offences.
“You deserve the harshest punishment available. A clear message must be sent out to the families in our country. They must be reassured that their children are safe … and that something like this never happens again,” he told the court.
