Family of Nottingham victim Grace Kumar pay tribute to ‘adored daughter’
The family of Grace Kumar who was killed in the Nottingham attacks have said they are ‘completely broken’ by her death.
The rising hockey star, 19, was stabbed to death alongside Barnaby Webber as they walked home from a night out at 4am.
In a heartbreaking statement, Grace’s family remembered an ‘adored daughter and sister’ who ‘was so happy in life’.
They said: ‘Grace was an adored daughter and sister; she was a truly wonderful and beautiful young lady.
‘Grace was not just a sister to James but his best friend. He is completely heartbroken. As parents, words cannot explain our complete and utter devastation.
‘She will be so dearly missed. We were so incredibly proud of Grace’s achievements and what a truly lovely person she was. She was resilient and wise beyond her years.
‘Grace was so happy in life fulfilling her ambition of studying to become a doctor whilst playing topflight hockey at university.
Nottingham Uni pays tribute to two of its students killed
The University of Nottingham has paid tribute to two of its students killed in the Nottingham attacks, describing Barnaby Webber as ‘fun, friendly, and full of life’ and saying that Grace Kumar was ‘held in the highest regard by her tutors and team mates alike’.
In a statement, university Vice-Chancellor Professor Shearer West said: ‘It is hard to find the words to express the shock and grief felt across our institution at the senseless loss of two first year students who have had their bright futures brutally curtailed by a seemingly random act of violence.
‘Grace was a medical student, thriving in her first year of study and inspired to a career in medicine by work placements in a GP surgery and her volunteering for the nationwide vaccination programme during the Covid-19 pandemic. She was a talented sportswoman, playing international hockey for both the U16 and U18 England Hockey Team and Essex U15 Women’s Cricket. She was held in the highest regard by her tutors and team mates alike.
‘Barnaby was a history student, with a particular personal interest in geopolitics of both the USA and China. His tutors recall his energy as a student and as fun, friendly, and full of life in his seminars. He too was a sporting talent, playing hockey, rugby and cricket for his school and local clubs and excelling at sports at Nottingham. His role in the Combined Cadet Forces also saw him exhibit his volunteering and leadership skills.
‘The university is supporting Grace and Barnaby’s families at this immensely difficult time, and I hope to meet them privately today to express my deep condolences and continue to offer every support at our disposal – although I recognise that nothing will compensate for the loss of a cherished daughter and son.
‘I will also join the families at our campus vigil on the Djanogly Terrace at 4pm, where I hope as many of our staff and student community as possible can attend to remember our fellow students and show our support for their families.
‘Against this backdrop of deep sadness and loss, I hope we can draw some comfort from the public reaction locally, nationally, and indeed globally to this dreadful crime. Nottingham is a wonderful and distinctive city, and our University and civic communities are united both in our grief and in our knowledge that this terrible act is not what our city is about.’
‘She leaves behind devastated extended family and friends.’
Her school, Bancroft’s School in Woodford Green also paid tribute.
In a statement it said: ‘We are shocked and saddened by the death in Nottingham under tragic circumstances of OB Grace O’Malley-Kumar.
‘An immensely gifted and dedicated scholar and sportswoman, Grace was loved, respected, and admired by all.
‘Our thoughts are with Grace’s family & friends at this difficult time.’
Today it has emerged that Grace fled from her attacker into a front garden and tried to get inside a house before she collapsed and died, the woman who lives there has told Sky News.
The woman, who asked not to be named, said she and her family were away for the night, but were told about the tragedy the next morning.
She said she was ‘heartbroken’ that they hadn’t been at home: ‘Maybe we could have saved her life.’
The woman, 28, and the mother of a young daughter said she got a lot of phone calls yesterday morning asking if she was okay but she ‘didn’t think it would be something this major’.
She went back to the house and ‘that’s when I was told I was not allowed in, because that’s where it happened’.
Grace ‘passed on our doorstep’ and the house needed to be cleaned ‘before we can even see it because it was such a horrible sight’, she said.
The council also came over, she said, and broke into the house through the backdoor ‘because there was so much blood they thought someone else had died in the house’.
She said it appeared as though Grace had tried to get into the house, which ‘breaks my heart even more’ because ‘if one of us had been in the house, we could have let her in – maybe we could have saved her life.’
The woman said she felt ‘numb’.
‘It’s so devastating. It’s just young lives.’
Of the suspect, she said: ‘I don’t know him. Nobody seems to know him, but he lives on this road.’
She said she won’t be able to go back to the house for at least a few days, and was ‘trying to keep my daughter away from the house’.
‘I just don’t want her to be around all that.’
It emerged today that Grace’s father is hero doctor Dr Sanjoy Kumar, who saved the lives of three teenagers stabbed in a gang attack near his surgery near Chingford, east London, in 2009.
Grace was following in her father’s footsteps and studying medicine at university.
The details of the Nottingham attacks bare grim similarities to her father’s heroism 14 years ago.
The hero GP stepped in to help a 15, 16 and 17-year-old after they staggered into his surgery covered in stab wounds.
Speaking at the time, Dr Kumar said: ‘We were ready to close our surgery at about 5pm when about eight young Afro-Caribbean guys came in.
‘Three had been stabbed. Two had received stab wounds to the left side of the chest which is really close to where the heart is. The other was stabbed on the left side of his abdomen.
‘It was like a war zone. We had to close the surgery and declare a major incident area. The practice became like a field hospital or an army hospital.
‘We thought the two guys might have collapsed lungs because they were having trouble breathing, and they were really scared and in a state of emotion.
‘We cleared the airway in their chest to create resuscitation. We tried to keep the flow of oxygen going and used an electro cardio gram to monitor their hearts. We examined them for 15 minutes before the police and ambulance arrived.
‘Fate was on their side because if they were stabbed in the open then it could have been fatal.
‘Fortunately we are trained for major incidents like if somebody collapses in our surgery so I’m proud of the way our staff reacted.’
Dr Kumar, who said he was humbled to be awarded the MBE in 2011, has yet to comment on his daughter’s sudden death.
Her mother Sinead is a big supporter of her hockey career, frequently taking to Twitter to heap praise on the teenager. Grace also has a brother named James.
Barnaby’s family have also opened up about their ‘complete devastation’ at the ‘senseless murder of our son’, who was stabbed to death yesterday morning.
Barnaby was hailed as a ‘beautiful, brilliant, bright young man, with everything in life to look forward to’.
Parents David and Emma Webber, and his younger brother Charlie, said he was ‘at the start of his journey into adulthood and was developing into a wonderful young man’.
In a statement after their son’s death, the family, who are from Taunton, Somerset, added: ‘Complete devastation is not enough to describe our pain and loss at the senseless murder of our son.
‘Barnaby Philip John Webber was a beautiful, brilliant, bright young man, with everything in life to look forward to.
‘A talented and passionate cricketer, who was over the moon to have made selection to his university cricket team.
‘At 19 he was just at the start of his journey into adulthood and was developing into a wonderful young man.
‘As parents we are enormously proud of everything he achieved and all the plans he had made.
‘His brother is bereft beyond belief, and at this time we ask for privacy as a family to be allowed time to process and grieve.’
Mr and Ms Webber added that they will not make any further statements as the police investigation into the attack develops.
In addition to the statement, they released a series of photographs of Barnaby, who was also described as an ‘amazing son, brother, grandson, nephew and friend’.
Earlier, Taunton-based Bishops Hull Cricket Club paid also tribute to the victim who was one of its members, describing him as a ‘dear friend’.
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