Ronan Kanda, 16, was fatally attacked with a 20-inch “ninja” sword as he walked home from a friend’s house in June 2022.
The mum of a teenage boy who was stabbed to death in a case of mistaken identity is battling to use school parents’ evenings to tackle the scourge of knife crime.
Ronan Kanda, 16, was fatally attacked with a 20-inch “ninja” sword as he walked home from a friend’s house in June 2022. Fellow pupils Prabjeet Veadhesa and Sukhman Shergill, both 17, mistook the tragic teen for a rival they had set out to kill.
Veadhesa plunged the weapon into Ronan’s back and chest, piercing his heart, in the attack in Wolverhampton. The boy had bought the sword with his mother’s ID and was handed it by bungling Post Office workers hours before the killing.
The remorseless pair went to Veadhesa’s home and ordered takeaways and played video games. Veadhesa and Shergil were jailed for life in 2023. They must serve at least 18 and 16 years behind bars.
Ronan’s mum Pooja, 49, has since devoted her life to tackling youth knife crime and the online sale of deadly weapons. New legislation named after her son – Ronan’s Law – has made it illegal to sell, make or import ninja swords to the UK. Last month Pooja, who still lives on the street where her son was killed, received an OBE for her anti-knife crime campaign.
She and her daughter Nikita regularly visit schools and charities to speak to youngsters about the dangers of carrying knives. But now they want to engage directly with parents to stop kids sliding into lives of crime. Pooja said school parents’ evenings are the ideal time to speak to adults.
She told the Mirror: “Parents are vital. They have a responsibility. Bringing up a child on this earth and not nurturing them with values causes so much pain. I know it’s hard to be a parent, and people say it’s hard to bring up a child because people are working all hours. But I was a single mum and I managed to raise two children with respect and values.
“I’m not saying ‘become me’, I’m saying ‘be better in what you are doing’. I see a lot of parents, especially the murderers’ parents, they didn’t have any morals or values between them. I saw them, the way they acted during the court case. One of the mothers said to me, ‘My son hasn’t done anything wrong’. That opened my eyes.
“That boy, sitting in his cell for the next 16 years, still doesn’t think he’s done anything wrong because his mum is there backing him up. I would like the schools to come forward and work with us. If we could go into schools on parents’ evenings, we’d have a captive audience. A school is a great portal to get that support to parents.
“I would like to have posters outside, people like me standing in the school hall, speaking to parents. I’m never giving up on this. I’m not giving up on the children who deserve to know what we can do to support them.”
Pooja says she remains “absolutely broken” over her son’s death nearly four years ago.
She said: “It doesn’t get any easier. It is more difficult than ever. At the beginning you are in shock, you are not thinking that you have lost your son forever. The pain, the loneliness, what he went through, really is painful. It feels like I didn’t protect my child, I failed to protect him. Ronan was my life. When I think back to before the murder, I was such a happy person, we were such a happy family.
“Now, even when I’m laughing, there’s no happiness inside. It’s like a continual sentence. There is no happiness. I’m always thinking, ‘What would he be doing now? What would he be like?’ His friends are going to university now, and I’m imagining him when I see them.
“I imagine his face, what would his hair be like, how tall would he be? Would he be introducing his girlfriend to me? All his future plans, and me being part of that future, has been taken away in one blow. I’m broken beyond words, absolutely broken. The grief can suddenly hit me without warning at any moment. His face comes into my head when I least expect it. I do everything in my power to stay strong, because I don’t want people to see my tears, but sometimes I can’t stop them. It’s constant pain, constant darkness.”
Pooja said she would turn down any opportunity to meet with Ronan’s killers as part of a “restorative justice” scheme. “I’m aware of restorative justice, and I know some families choose that path,” she said.
“But every parent who has lost a child has their own way of coping and seeking answers. I have found my way as well. For me, the courtroom gave me my answers. I saw everything in there. It was very clear. I saw the video evidence in the court. I heard the evidence too. They were ordering takeaways, playing PlayStation, after knowing they had taken Ronan’s life. I never want to meet them or see them again. I’m very clear with my mindset, I saw what they did. If it wasn’t my son it would have been someone else’s son, either another mistaken victim or the intended target.
“Unfortunately on this occasion it was my son, who I really, really, absolutely adored. There is no way I will ever forgive them.” Pooja is continuing to battle for changes in the law and licensing rules to stop crimes like her son’s murder happening again.
Amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill, which will make it mandatory for collection point sites to check ID on knives, are going through the House of Lords. And a consultation is being run by the government for a licensing system for sellers and imports of knives, which would include rules for age verification and secure packaging.
Get more Daily Record exclusives by signing up for free to Google’s preferred sources. Click HERE.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login