Grace Kumar died after trying to save Barney from knifeman in Nottingham student attacks

Grace O’Malley-Kumar, one of the victims of last weeks student attacks in Nottingham, has been hailed a hero as after she died trying to protect her friend Barnaby Webber.

Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber, who were both first year students at the University of Nottingham, were both fatally stabbed on Ilkeston Road in the early hours of the morning last Tuesday.

A witness has now spoken about how Grace had time to run away but instead tried to fight off the knifeman as Barney was being attacked.

CCTV footage from a local house shows Grace and Barnaby walking back from the city’s PRYZM night club.

In the footage a figure in black can be seen first attacking Barnaby, giving Grace time to run away but instead she rushes to Barney’s aid.

A local witness, who did not wish to be named, told the Daily Mail how their home CCTV captured the moment. She said: “The boy and girl were walking up on their own, there was nobody else in the picture except the attacker, who came up from behind.

“He attacked the boy first – the girl had an opportunity to run away but she didn’t. She tried to get the man off her friend. She tried to save the boy.

“They were just walking home from PRYZM after a night out, like young people do.”

Barnaby then collapsed on the street but Grace managed to stumble to the door of the witness’ house.

Unfortunately the house was empty at the time. The witness said how it was one of the few nights the house was empty and expressed regret saying: “I also can’t help thinking that if we’d been in, we might have been able to help them.”

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Nottinghamshire Police has charged Valdo Calocane on three counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder in relation to the incident where pedestrians were nearly run over by a van.

Local school taker Ian Coates was also fatally stabbed on Magdala Road in a separate incident as part of the series of attacks that occurred that morning.

Mr Calocane, who graduated from the University of Nottingham last year, appeared at Nottingham Magistrates Court on Saturday. He was remanded in custody.

Chief Constable, Kate Meynell, of Nottinghamshire Police said: “Our thoughts remain with the families and friends of all those affected by these attacks, and we will continue to provide support and reassurance. We would also ask people to respect the families’ wishes for privacy at this difficult time to allow them to grieve.

Featured images via Twitter 

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