Nottingham attack victim branded a ‘hero’ by her brother

Grace O’Malley-Kumar, 19, was killed by Valdo Calocane in June last year, along with fellow student student Barnaby Webber and caretaker Ian Coates.

19-year-old Grace O’Malley-Kumar was returning from a night out when she was killed (Nottinghamshire Police/PA)

A 19-year-old victim of the Nottingham attack has been branded a “hero” by her brother.

Grace O’Malley-Kumar, 19, was fatally knifed by Valdo Calocane in June last year, alongside fellow Nottingham University student Barnaby Webber, as they returned from a night out.

Calocane also stabbed to death school caretaker Ian Coates and on Tuesday, prosecutors accepted his plea of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility due to “serious” mental illness.

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

James O'Malley-Kumar

Ms O’Malley-Kumar’s 17-year-old brother, James O’Malley-Kumar, told Sky News that he thing he missed the most about his sister is her smile.

He said: “Knowing that I’ll never see that (smile) again is something really hurts me.

“I have her earring in now, which I always keep in, because again it’s a part of her, and that’s how I try and get as close as I can to her.”

He added: “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.

“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.”

She was studying medicine at the university at the time.