Ronan Kanda: Knife crime march following death of 16-year-old

More than 100 people marched through Wolverhampton in memory of a 16-year-old boy who was stabbed to death in a case of mistaken identity.

Ronan Kanda was murdered close to his home in Wolverhampton in June 2022.

His sister Nikita said: "We want to raise awareness - people don't actually understand how rife knife crime is."

Ronan's family has called for a ban on the online sale of swords and large knives and urged people to stop carrying weapons.

"Ronan was just the best, he was literally just the most caring beautiful soul and he had a heart of gold," said Ms Kanda.

She said his death had "broken" the family and added: "The street that we once grew up on has now become a murder scene for us for the rest of our lives."

Two 17-year-olds who went to the same school as Ronan were sentenced last week for murdering him as he returned from a friend's house.

A trial heard his attackers, one of whom had just collected knives bought online from a post office, mistook him for his friend.

On Wednesday, a group of friends and family marched from Mount Road, where Ronan was killed, to The Khalsa Academy on Millfields Road.

Ms Kanda said the aim was to raise awareness of the "horrible crime", adding: "We need to come together in solidarity because if this can happen to Ronan this can happen to anybody."

Ronan's mother Pooja Kanda called on the prime minister to introduce "stronger legislation, more policing, stronger sentencing".

She told the crowds in a speech how much she missed her son's laughter and charisma and missed laughing with him at his jokes.

"It's killing me to think what happened to Ronan. I cannot believe that my baby went through this alone," she said.

The family stopped outside Ronan's former school, because they have been unhappy with the response from staff following the murder.

Ronan's sister said: "They haven't really acknowledged Ronan and we've felt very hurt throughout this past year from the way they've acted."

In a statement, the school said it was "devastated" by Ronan's death, but it had been "prevented from addressing the concerns of families publicly as the case was in the middle of legal proceedings".

It said it had provided psychological support for students and organised sessions to teach them "about the devastating impacts of knife crime".

Ms Kanda also said the family were unhappy a trip to Alton Towers had gone ahead after her brother's death.

The school said it had taken the "difficult decision" because it believed it would help staff and students "to be away from school to help process the shocking news".

When asked what her message to anyone carrying a knife would be, Ms Kanda said: "It's such a cowardly act and you might act in the moment, but you might regret it for the rest of your life.

"You're not just killing that person, you're killing their families as well."

She said the march was positive because it showed "solidarity" that the community was coming together to fight knife crime.

"What we want to come from this is we want machetes and swords to stop being sold online," she added.

"'We've lost everything. We were just a normal family, happy, you know we never did anything wrong. And then, to suddenly become a victim of something like this, it's awful."

Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [email protected]