Schoolgirl, 15, begged attacker to ‘stop’ as she was knifed to death in street in row over ‘teddy bear,’ court hears
10 December 2024, 16:10
A youth pulled out a knife like a character from Netflix drama Top Boy and stabbed 15-year-old Elianne Andam on the ground as she begged him to "stop", a court heard.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Hassan Sentamu, 18, from Croydon is on trial accused of murdering Elianne in a street in Croydon last year.
She was on her way to school as she was stabbed in the neck by Hassan during an argument about a teddy bear, the Old Bailey heard.
Jurors were told that Elianne begged Hassan to "stop" as he proceeded to stab her with a 12cm long kitchen knife after he refused to bring the teddy bear to give back to Elianne's friend who was his ex-girlfriend.
When Elianne grabbed a bag of his clothes as "a joke", Sentamu "got mad", chased and repeatedly stabbed her, jurors were told on Tuesday.
Elianne was knifed to death on the morning of September 27 last year outside the Whitgift shopping centre in Croydon.
Sentamu has admitted manslaughter but denied Elianne's murder on the basis of "loss of control" because he has autism.
Footage of Sentamu fleeing the scene and disposing of the knife was shown to the jury today.
He was arrested 90 minutes after the stabbing by a bus stop near his home.
A police officer approached Sentamu asking for his name and for "someone who has just stabbed someone" to which Sentamu gave them an Oyster card.
The footage showed the police arrested Sentamu to which he responded with "I didn't do nothing, bro" as he was handcuffed.
Sentamu's ex-girlfriend described events leading up to the attack on her friend before school on the morning of last September 27.
In a video interview played in court, she told police she realised something was wrong when he turned up for a planned exchange of their belongings wearing gloves and a mask.
She knew Sentamu had an "anger issue" - and likened his demeanour to a character from the London-based crime drama Top Boy, the court heard.
She said: "I thought he was gonna hit me. I thought that he had something on him because ... watching shows and stuff like, for example, Top Boy, whenever someone's about to get killed they always have on specifically black gloves.
"I've never seen him wear black gloves, it's not cold outside."
She said: "I was saying 'can I have my stuff back?' like outside the Whitgift Centre where the bus stop is.
"He looked at me ... and rolled his eyes a bit ... and said 'I don't want to hurt you' ... not like in an emotional way ... like he's warning me."
She went on: "I was saying 'Where's my teddy? Where's my teddy? Where's my teddy?'.
"He was looking me up and down, just saying 'look at you, look at you' ... it was sort of like a disgusted way."
Asked how it made her feel, she replied: "Not too good."
The girl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, went on: "Elianne ran behind him, grabbed the bag and started running and laughing as a joke. It was the type of thing that Elianne would have done.
"At first I was laughing a bit 'cos it was a joke and then I got scared 'cos then Hassan got mad."
Prosecutor Alex Chalk KC told the jury: "We will be submitting to you that whatever impact his autism had - and it may well have had some - it is nowhere near sufficient as a matter of law, medicine or of common sense to clear him of murder.
"Having heard the evidence you may feel that the catalyst for this dreadful attack was rather more simple:
"Anger. White-hot anger at having been disrespected in public by girls, both by Elianne on the day of the killing and previously.
"Hassan Sentamu had a short fuse and as you'll hear on September 27 at 8.30am he reached the end of it.
Read more: Israel says reports of troops advancing towards Damascus are 'fake news'
"And his calculated decision to bring a knife to the scene meant that the consequences of that outburst for Elianne and her family were utterly devastating."
The trial is still in progress.
