The parents of a student who was stabbed to death in Nottingham while trying to save her friend have called for her to be awarded the George Cross so she can be “remembered forever”.
Grace O’Malley-Kumar, 19, “heroically and valiantly fought” Valdo Calocane when he attacked fellow student Barnaby Webber as they returned from a night out celebrating the end of exams last June, her father Dr Sanjoy Kumar said.
During Calocane’s trial, prosecutor Karim Khalil KC said Ms O’Malley-Kumar had shown “incredible bravery” by trying to protect Mr Webber from Calocane’s blows and tried to fight him off, pushing him away and into the road.
The killer then turned his attention to her and was “as uncompromisingly brutal in his assault of Grace as he was in his assault of Barnaby”, Mr Khalil said.
Calocane admitted killing Grace, Barnaby and school caretaker Ian Coates on the basis of diminished responsibility, a plea which the Crown Prosecution Service has accepted.
MPs have since called for Ms O’Malley-Kumar, who was a first-year medical student who played for England under-18s hockey team, to be awarded the George Cross – an award recognising “the greatest heroism or of the most conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme danger”.
Sinead O’Malley, Ms O’Malley-Kumar’s mum, said in an interview with The Sun: “The George Cross would be a remarkable acknowledgement of her bravery, for sure.
“Grace is never coming back to us, but we never want her to be forgotten, and this would certainly make sure she is remembered forever.”
Her father Dr Sanjoy Kumar said the award “would be an example to every other young person”, as her brother James hailed her a “hero”.
Tory MP Marco Longhi, who sits on the Home Affairs select committee, said Ms O’Malley-Kumar deserved the medal as she “showed selfless bravery”.
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Sky News app for free
David Morris, another Conservative MP, also called for her to be given the “ultimate honour”.
Her brother James, 17, had said in a previous interview with Sky News: “Grace’s last moments were in pain and that’s something that really hurts me to think about and she was a hero, that was her character.”
Read more:
Families traumatised by ‘barbaric’ police WhatsApp messages about killings
Timeline of missed opportunities to stop Calocane
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
He added: “She tried her best to save her friend. That was how Grace lost her life in the most vulnerable manner.
“She would never leave a friend, never, and that was very evident from her last moments. She passed fighting.”
James described his sister’s death as a “loss to the country” as he pointed to her riding a Vespa to a clinic to vaccinate hundreds of people during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as her aspirations of serving as a medic in the armed forces.
