In Nottinghamshire, north of London, Valdo Mendes, aged 31, who is facing charges in Britain for killing two teenage students and a 65-year-old caretaker, made his initial court appearance on Saturday. The photograph of the accused, taken by Lindsey Parnaby/EPA-EFE, can be seen above.
June 17 (UPI) — The man charged in Nottingham, Britain, with killing two teenage students and a 65-year-old caretaker made his first court appearance on Saturday.
Valdo Amissao Mendes Calocane identified himself as Valdo Mendes during the hearing held at the Magistrates Court in Nottingham, which is located 130 miles to the north of London.
The 31-year-old accused has permanent resident status in Britain, and is a dual national according to the police. He possesses passports from Portugal and Guinea-Bissau, a small Portuguese-speaking nation located in West Africa.
Mendes is facing charges for the fatal stabbings of Barnaby Philip John Webber and Grace Sashi O’Malley-Kumar, both aged 19. Their bodies were discovered with stab wounds at around 4 a.m. on Tuesday. Ian Robert Coates, aged 65, was also found dead from stab wounds on a nearby road.
The motive behind the killings has not been speculated upon by the police, but they assert that Mendes, whose address is not listed in court documents, committed all three murders.
Both Webber and O’Malley-Kumar were students at the University of Nottingham, the same institution from which Mendes had graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering.
Additionally, Mendes faces three charges of attempted murder for intentionally striking three pedestrians with a van while attempting to evade arrest.
Mendes was apprehended by law enforcement on Tuesday after the police implemented roadblocks and closed off the city center, which is home to a population of 823,000 people.
Family members of the victims held a solemn vigil in the vicinity where the killings occurred on Saturday night.
Mendes is scheduled to make his next appearance in court on Tuesday.
Nottinghamshire Police Chief Kate Meynell expressed her condolences in a statement on Friday evening, saying, “This has been an incredibly sad time for our city and county, and we stand united with our communities as we come to terms with the effects of what has happened.” She also urged the public to refrain from posting prejudicial information about the ongoing case online as it could potentially constitute contempt of court and even jeopardize the trial.
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