'My fight is for my son' - mum welcomes sword ban

Ronan Kanda suffered a 20cm-deep wound in his back and hip area after being stabbed by a zombie knife

The mother of a teenager who was killed by a zombie knife has welcomed government plans to ban the sale of the weapon that killed her child.

Ronan Kanda was murdered close to his home in Wolverhampton after he visited a friend's house to buy a PlayStation controller in June 2022.

Pooja Kanda said her fight for the banning of the weapon was one step towards honouring his legacy.

"If this legislation was there before what happened to my son, I firmly believe my son would be in front of me today, growing up like he should've been," she said.

"I would say [to Ronan] 'Ronan, I did what I wish somebody else did for me', now my fight is for my son," she continued.

The King's speech on Wednesday announced the new Crime and Policing Bill, which would close a loophole on the sales of ninja and samurai swords and jail tech company executives if banned zombie knives and machetes are sold on their platforms.

Since his death, Ronan's family has been campaigning to outlaw the sale of such weapons and more than 10,000 people signed the family's petition to ban online sales.

The fight continues

The 16-year-old was attacked by two teenagers who had bought a set of swords and a machete on the internet.

In a case of mistaken identity, the pair mistook Ronan for his friend and killed him.

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

The pain of losing her son has never left, but Ms Kanda said it was her grief and love that strengthened her to continue to advocate for change.

"There are many things that happened that failed my son, many things. I mean, this is not only about the availability of these type of weapons, policing, [delivery of] the knives not knowing the perpetrator's age and schooling," she said.

Ms Kanda added: "If those organisation did their job right in recognising the perpetrators, they would have failed to do what they did.

"We need to get together to fight this."