Pooja Kanda, whose 16-year-old son Ronan was stabbed to death with a 20-inch 'ninja' sword in Wolverhampton in June 2022, is calling for a ban on the sale of such weapons. The current government legislation, due to come into force in autumn, bans zombie knives but does not cover swords like the one used in Ronan's murder.
Ronan, an aspiring lawyer who had just finished his GCSEs, was attacked from behind while walking home from a friend's house. His killers, both 16 at the time, mistook him for someone else. One of them had bought the sword online earlier that day using his mother's ID and collected it from a Post Office.
Mrs Kanda has launched the #JusticeForRonanKanda campaign, which includes an open letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that has garnered over 10,000 signatures. She argues that swords have no purpose other than to cause harm and should be included in the ban. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has backed her call, and his party is pushing for tech firm bosses to face criminal prosecution if illegal weapons are sold on their sites.
Labour has pledged a review of online knife sales, focusing on strengthening ID checks from purchase to delivery. Shadow Policing Minister Alex Norris stated that the government has a duty to prevent dangerous weapons from reaching teenagers. The two killers, Prabjeet Veadhesa and Sukhman Shergill, now both 17, were jailed for life last July for Ronan's murder.
