https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/zombie-knife-thugs-killed-quiet-33732899'Zombie knife thugs killed my quiet, caring son in case of mistaken identity'
Pooja Kanda, the mum of Ronan Kanda, who was stabbed to death in a case of mistaken identity by teenagers who used weapons they bought on the internet
By Heather Main
09:52, 24 Sep 2024 Updated 14:16, 24 Sep 2024
Proud parents across the country have set their teenagers off on a new adventure this month as they start university. But time stands still for one mum whose son will forever be 16. No fresher’s week parties, no first dates, no new forever friendships. Ronan Kanda had just finished his GCSEs when he was stabbed to death outside the family home on 29 June 2022 by two teenage boys from his own school, in a case of mistaken identity. He was walking home at 9pm after visiting a friend’s house to buy a PlayStation controller, when he was ambushed in a fatal attack by teens using zombie-style knives. Two 17-year-olds were sentenced in July 2023 for Ronan’s murder. Prabjeet Veadhesa is serving a minimum term of 18 years and Sukhman Shergill a minimum of 16. Campaigning tirelessly since Ronan’s death to stamp out knife crime, his mum Pooja Kanda fears that, despite her sterling efforts, it has invaded the very fabric of our schools and is putting all our children in danger. Speaking to the Mirror ahead of Labour’s first annual conference since taking power, Pooja said: "The new law has many loopholes, and hopefully Ronan's law will soon be introduced to enhance this and make it stronger but there is much more to do. I am glad that the government is involving families like mine in their plans for tackling knife crime, it shows they are taking this seriously. Changing the law around online sales is a start, but it is such a small step that should have been taken a long time ago. We really need to do more. It's a problem that we all need to tackle. I've taken the plunge to become a campaigner for this cause because as a citizen of this country, I have a responsibility to my son and to society."
She warns: “Schools are helpless at the moment to even begin to tackle the problem. Every time I hear about another death on the news my grief hits me again like a ton of bricks. I know there will be another family somewhere, like me, whose life has been ripped apart and they will never, ever recover.”
Pooja’s campaigning has been remarkably effective. Knife crime was a major manifesto issue for Labour. Keir Starmer spoke to victims alongside actor Idris Elba - who launched his Dont Stop Your Future campaign with The Mirror to end the knife crime epidemic. Labour agreed to introduce Ronan’s Law, banning the sale of machetes, zombie knives and ninja swords online, which hasn’t come in yet. But from today, it is illegal to possess “zombie-style” knives and machetes in England and Wales closing a legal loophole by making it an imprisonable offence to own, make, transport or sell a wide range of what are called “statement” knives favoured by criminal gangs. Ahead of the new ban coming into force, people were urged to hand them over at police stations across England and Wales or to dispose of these weapons using surrender bins. But Pooja, whose “quiet, witty and caring” son was murdered by two teenagers intending to attack another boy with the zombie knives they bought online, feels only a cultural change will stop knife crime and this has to begin in schools, She says: “There is a culture around knives where they are seen as cool. I am 47, and I couldn’t bring myself to even pick up a machete. But these children are not normal kids, they are deeply troubled and lacking in morals. The boys who murdered Ronan had been suspended from school. I understand why, but all that did was make angry, troubled boys even angrier. As a society, we need to fix this problem. We cannot keep seeing our children killed with knives.It is not an issue just for other people. Parents need to realise, you don’t have to be a gang member or selling drugs to be killed by a knife. You just have to be present somewhere where they can kill you. Never in a million years did I think my son could die like that. He was a quiet, hard-working kid, popular, never in any trouble. If he can be killed then it can happen to anyone. When you’re a good person, you don’t think it could happen to you or your family. But it isn’t limited to a particular ethnicity, or colour, sex anyone can become a victim.”
Pooja, from Wolverhampton, West Mids, says the proliferation of knife crimes over the summer should be a warning to us all. "Every few days, I hear of someone else losing their life to knife crime,” she says.
“Most people hear about it, are sad for a day, and go back to their lives we cannot do that. We have to wake up to the situation we are in and, as a society, do something about it. My son is dead because of the hatred that is endemic in so many young people. These children need help.”
Ronan had nipped out for five minutes the night he died, after asking his dad if he could collect a PlayStation controller from a mate. Feeling inexplicably uneasy, when someone heard there had been a stabbing near her house, Pooja who was at a meditation class phoned her partner asking where Ronan was and they both tried his phone, but he was already dead. She ran home to find a crowd yards from their front door, Ronan was on the ground, but the paramedics told her there was nothing they could do for him. He had a fatal knife wound to his heart. “My world fell apart in that moment,” she says,
Veadhesa and Shergill were both found guilty of murdering Ronan at Wolverhampton Crown Court in May 2023. Sentencing them to life, Judge Mr Justice Choudhury said: “The added tragedy in this case is that Ronan was truly an innocent victim. He had nothing to do with gangs, nothing to do with drugs and nothing to do with violence or knives. He had no enemies or even anyone that did not like him.”
This, says Pooja, who has since formed the pressure group Justice for Ronan Kanda, and has campaigned with Idris Elba to ban online sales of knives, shows knife crime is everyone’s problem. While the new Crime and Policing Bill will close a loophole on the sales of ninja and samurai swords, she says: “Banning sales of knives online is the first step, but the problem is far bigger.”
Pooja is already working with Ronan’s school, sharing his story and trying to educate young people around knife crime. And she hopes in future to go into many more schools to tell Ronan’s story. She also wants to see so-called ‘drill’ music a sub-genre of hip hop, known for its extremely violent and graphic lyrics glorifying drugs, guns and knives to be more heavily regulated. In 2018, then Met Police Commissioner, Cressida Dick, blamed Drill music videos for fuelling the surge in violence in London. YouTube removed 30 videos in response to her request to take down videos that glamorised violence. But the music is freely available on social media channels, and at a trial this year after the death of Gordon Gault, 14, who was fatally stabbed in the street in Newcastle, the judge described it as a “pernicious genre” adding that it “tends to glorify violence.” “I think this music is part of a culture that has a terrifying effect on children,” Pooja adds.
“I hadn’t heard of it until Ronan’s court case, when it was mentioned that the people who drove Ronan’s killers to him had it playing in their cars. It is absolutely sickening I can’t believe it is accessible for our young people. We can’t be scared of demanding this culture is changed. Ronan was the perfect son. It was a privilege to be his mother. He was funny, kind, caring everything I could have wished for. When he died, we were blown away by the number of children from his school who got in touch with us to share how Ronan had helped them from all the way across the school. His killers even said in court that Ronan had been kind to them at school. He wanted to be a lawyer, he always told the truth and wanted to stand up for people in need. His death has torn our family apart. He was the glue that held us together. Now, most days, I want to sit and cry in a corner. But I know I have to fix this problem. Then I know my son’s death was not in vain. Ronan helped people when he was alive, and now I want to help tackle this problem in his name and make our children safe.”
