25 January 2024 , 12:04
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A knifeman who stabbed three people to death on a rampage through Nottingham last year will be detained at a high security hospital indefinitely.
Valdo Calocane, 32, was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia when he stabbed students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, and school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, to death with a dagger in Nottingham in the early hours of last June 13. Despite initially facing murder charges, the prosecution eventually accepted guilty pleas on charges of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.
Calocane “hid in the shadows” waiting for Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19. The university students had been on their way home, after an end-of-term night out, at 4am on June 13 when Calocane attacked them. Brave Grace tried to fight Calocane off, pushing him into the road as he attacked Barnaby, but both tragically died.
After the court took extensive evidence from psychiatrists and other medical professionals, Calocane was today (Thursday) sentenced to an indefinite hospital order at a high security hospital, subject to special restrictions.
Valdo Calocane pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility – but denied murder (PA)Sentencing Calocane at Nottingham Crown Court on Thursday, judge Mr Justice Turner said the killer would be detained in a high-security hospital “very probably for the rest of your life”.
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He said: “You committed a series of atrocities in this city which ended the lives of three people in this city. Your sickening crimes both shocked the nation and wrecked the lives of your surviving victims and the families of them all.”
The judge went on to say that the “harrowing” details of the attacks have been “fully recounted and explored” in court over the past couple of days.
On Wednesday, Calocane’s barrister Peter Joyce KC had urged the judge not to consider a whole-life order, saying paranoid schizophrenia is an “unwanted visitor” which “stalked down” a man of previously impeccable character and behaviour.
Valdo Calocane was caught on camera numerous times during the attackBefore sentencing took place, one of the sons of stabbing victim Ian Coates was applauded after standing up in courtroom one to make an impromptu address.
Speaking towards the families of Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, Mr Coates said: “No matter what the outcome is our family are here for you from now until whenever. I am so sorry that we had had to go through this and this is how we have met. If I don’t manage to stay the whole day because I can’t keep my mouth shut, I apologise. But we are in the same boat.”
Calocane during his manslaughter trial at Nottingham Crown Court (PA)Relatives of those killed and injured in the attacks, sitting in the public gallery, responded by applauding Mr Coates’ remarks.
Mr Justice Turner told Valdo Calocane that his actions had sentenced many relatives and friends of the victims to “a life of grief and pain”. He told the triple killer: “There was never any doubt that it was you who had committed these appalling crimes.
“It soon became clear, however, that the central issue in this case would relate to whether at the time of committing these offences you were suffering from symptoms of severe mental disorder.”
The judge added that the psychiatric evidence did not detract from the “horror” and impact of the offences, but he said, in his view, Calocane’s abnormality of mind had significantly contributed to him perpetrating the string of attacks. Speaking after sentencing, Barnaby Webber’s family unleashed a broadside at Nottinghamshire Police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) that “true justice has not been served today”.
In a statement read on the court steps after sentencing, his mother Emma Webber said: “We as a devastated family have been let down by multiple agency failings and ineffectiveness.
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“The CPS did not consult us as has been reported – instead we have been rushed, hastened and railroaded.”
She said the first meeting with them was on November 24. “We were presented with a fait accompli that the decision had been made to accept manslaughter charges. At no point during the previous five-and-a-half-months were we given any indication that this could conclude in anything other than murder.
“We trusted in our system, foolishly as it turns out. We do not dispute that the murderer is mentally unwell and has been for a number of years. However the pre-mediated planning, the collection of lethal weapons, hiding in the shadows and brutality of the attacks are that of an individual who knew exactly what he was doing. He knew entirely that it was wrong but he did it anyway.”