Ronan Kanda: 'Ban online sales of sword that killed my son'

Ronan Kanda was killed in a case of mistaken identity by teenage boys who bought a set of swords and a machete on the internet. His family spoke to the BBC about their unwavering fight for justice.

Ronan had just completed his GCSEs and was planning to go to college. The sweet-natured boy was "every mother's dream" according to his family, whose lives were changed forever in an instant.

He had spent the day playing snooker with pals, but on a June evening last year, the 16-year-old left his home in Wolverhampton to buy a PlayStation controller from a friend.

As he listened to music through his headphones on the walk back home, he was spotted by two boys who, devastatingly, mistook him for someone they had recently been in dispute with.

They immediately began chasing Ronan through the streets, one wielding a sword and one a machete, and brutally attacked him from behind.

He was stabbed in the heart and left to die at the scene.

Pradjeet Veadhesa and Sukhman Shergill, both 17, have been handed life sentences at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

The judge lifted reporting restrictions on naming them in an attempt to send out a strong message about the seriousness of knife crime.

Ronan's mother Pooja Kanda said a year on, she cannot stop thinking about her memories of the evening he was murdered.

She described running down the road on the night of his death, screaming "no, it can't be Ronan".

"The police said they wanted to see a picture of my son, so I showed them a photo on my phone," she told the BBC.

"I begged them, 'please let me see him one time, he will wake up for his mum,' but they didn't let me.

"He was gone straight away, the moment they stabbed him with the sword."

Earlier that day Veadhesa had visited a post office to pick up the set of ninja knives and a machete he had bought online.

He had taken a dislike to one of Ronan's friends and the two had previously fought, detectives said.

Ronan was set-upon by then 16-year-olds who police said they mistook for his friend.

He suffered a 20cm deep wound in his back and hip area and a 17cm deep wound in his chest.

"They are monsters," Mrs Kanda said. "These youths they didn't think twice before what they did to my son."

Ronan's family is now calling for an urgent ban on the online sale of swords and large knives to "stop another innocent life getting taken away by knife crime".

"When I saw for the first time the size of the sword, I fainted in grief," said Mrs Kanda.

The teenager's sister Nikita Kanda said she was astonished at how easy it was to buy such dangerous weapons.

"The boy who murdered my brother, he actually ordered them under his mother's ID," she said.

"He was able just to walk into the post office and just give the name and be given the parcel.

"If that boy was ID'd there, then maybe my brother would be here today."

In June they visited Parliament to meet policing minister Chris Philp MP and shadow minister Sarah Jones to call for stricter legislation.

His sister said they wanted justice for the "way our beautiful boy was taken in broad daylight".

It has been a year since Ronan's murder and his mother said she would never forgive the boys who took his life.

"There is no closure to this. I'll never understand why this happened to an innocent boy," she said.

"People say forgive, make peace. But no, I make peace within myself and I'm not forgiving them.

"They're monsters. They're evil."

Nikita said everything about her life changed the moment her brother was killed.

"I was just a normal kind of person living a normal life. I would go out with my friends go out drinking, clubbing. Having fun. It's changed my life massively. I've never loved anyone as much as I love him," she said.

"I want to make a change for my brother because he deserved to see so much more.

"We want to build him a legacy. It makes you think how many other children would be here today if it was harder to get a hold of these weapons."

Ronan's mother told the BBC her home used to be "filled with laughter" but now "the silence kills me".

Veadhesa, who carried out the stabbing, was sentenced to a minimum of 18 years and Shergill was given a minimum of 16 years.

Jailing the defendants, judge Mr Justice Choudhury, said it was "disturbing" that such weapons could be bought "with ease" online.

The case was another instance of the "national scourge of knife crime, as a result of which young lives are brutally cut short," he said.

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