"There are people in this court who are profoundly and devastatingly affected by this case."
An Indian-origin judge on Tuesday praised the restraint and dignity of the families of the three people, including British Indian teenager Grace O'Malley Kumar, who was stabbed to death in Nottingham, central England, last week.
Justice Nirmal Shant presided over a hearing as the 31-year-old suspect, Valdo Amissao Mendes Calocane, a.k.a. Valdo Mendes, appeared at Nottingham Crown Court charged with the murder of Kumar, her University of Nottingham friend Barnaby Webber and school caretaker Ian Coates.
Calocane, who has dual nationality of Guinea-Bissau in West Africa and Portugal and settled status in the UK by virtue of his Portuguese citizenship, is also charged with three counts of attempted murder over his suspected use of a stolen van to drive at three pedestrians, named as Wayne Birkett, Marcin Gawronski and Sharon Miller. Coates' family attended the court appearance.
"There are people in this court who are profoundly and devastatingly affected by this case," said Justice Shant.
"Can I say through you that they have shown the utmost restraint and dignity, and I thank them for it," she said, addressing the prosecutor in the case, Peter Ratliff.
According to a BBC court report, Calocane was remanded in custody after no application was made for bail, and his murder trial has been set for January 12, 2024. Meanwhile, he is due to enter the pleas in the case at the same court on September 25.
Kumar, a 19-year-old medical student and daughter of London-based doctors Sanjoy Kumar and Sinead O'Malley, was walking back to her university with Webber when they were attacked.
Ian Coates was killed nearby, and his van is believed to have been used related to the attempted murder charges. One man hit by the van remains in a stable condition in hospital, and two others have been discharged, according to the Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) National Health Service (NHS) Trust.
Thousands have attended vigils at the university and Market Square in Nottingham in memory of the victims since the attack last Tuesday.
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