Elianne Andam’s aunt, Marian Addow, today called for an overhaul of legislation and tougher sentences for teen offenders in a bid to act as a deterent
Tragic Elianne Andam’s family have laid bare their “fresh wave of grief” at learning the schoolgirl’s killer could be free at 40. And they have demanded a face-to-face meeting with Keir Starmer as they bid to end the knife crime epidemic plaguing Britain..
Grieving aunt Marian Addow, 49, lashed out after Hassan Sentamu was jailed for life with a minimum term of 23 years for killing the schoolgirl, 15. But Marian opened up on the family’s heartache at knowing he could be free so relatively soon. She also revealed her goal of meeting the Prime Minister to build on budding human rights lawyer Elianne’s “legacy”. She says tougher sentences for violent 16 and 17-year-old offenders and new legislation which would see them tried as adults would curb a horrifying wave of youth knife crime.
Marian said: “We would love to meet with Keir Starmer. Then we can explain the deep impact of these crimes to somebody who has never been in this situation.
“Once you kill somebody, you kill the whole family. Elianne is dead and gone, but we are now facing the pain. He’s taken the joy, the peace and every happiness in our family. Whenever it is Elianne’s birthday, when Elianne’s friends are graduating, we are going to remember.
“We’re going to see her friends grow up and have kids, they are going to be mothers. Elianne won’t. The Judge had to sentence [Hassan] based on the fact that he was 17 when he committed the crime. But he knew what he was doing and he planned it.
“He’ll come out of prison at 40 years old – but Elianne didn’t get that chance. We need to look at the justice system and guidelines for the judges because the crime that this boy committed and the sentence does not fit. If young people know that I could get 50 years. I think it will stop them or they would think twice before using a knife.”
The Old Bailey heard knife-obsessed Sentamu rupted in “white hot” rage and stabbed Elianne to death in a row over a teddy bear. The killer chillingly said: “I don’t want to hurt you,” when she turned up to support a friend who had just split up with Sentamu, and who wanted him to return her cuddly toy. Seconds later, he chased after her and repeatedly rained blows down on her with a kitchen knife, before fleeing the scene.
He admitted manslaughter but denied murder, claiming his autism had caused him to lose control during the violent attack on September 27, 2023 in Croydon, south London. Jurors dismissed his plea and returned guilty verdicts. Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said because Sentamu was only 17 at the time of the murder, the starting point for the crime was 14 years.
It was increased by nine years to “mark society’s abhorrence of knife crime and mark it as a deterrent”. Sentamu’s defence team had said he was sorry for the murder and wanted to work with children when he was released from prison.
But the judge said Elianne was defenceless and “unarmed and wearing her school uniform”. And Elianne’s family, speaking outside the Old Bailey, called for tougher sentences to stop Britain’s knife crime epidemic.
Today Marian and Denzil Larbi, 29, Elianne’s cousin, highlighted the cases of Southport killer Axel Rudakabana, who was 17 when he murdered three children and received a minimum jail term of 52 years. They are also in touch with the father of Jermaine Cools, who was murdered aged 17 in Croydon in 2021 by Marques Walker, then 14, who was handed a minimum term of just 19 years.
Denzil, who has a two-year-old daughter, said of Julius Cools: “The father has such a deep bitterness for the justice system, for the police, because he just feels like this is not justice.”
Mum-of-three Marian, a chef at a school for autistic children, told how her sister – Elianne’s mum – shares their anger. Dorcas Andam attended court in a private room and managed to entirely avoid seeing the face of her only daughter’s killer until after sentencing, when a photo of him popped up as part of a news alert on her phone.
She said: “She didn’t want to see the boy at all because the pain that she’s going through is so much. “That was her only daughter. She’s still not okay – she’s taking a day at a time, but it’s not easy.”
She also told of her disappointment that Sematu’s family have not reached out, despite some relatives being in court alongside her. Marian said: “I know that it is their son that did it, but it would have been nice for the mother to even write a letter to say, listen, I am sorry for what my son did.”
Denzil added: “The only time we can connect with Elianne is when we go to the grave – where this guy can have visits and when he’s 40, he can start his life back again. And I just feel there’s something quite deeply wrong about that.”
Last week the judge told Sentamu: “You have taken the life of a child. You have devastated the lives of those who knew and loved Elianne Andam. The responsibility of Elianne’s death will be with you for the rest of your days.”
As he left the dock, members of the public gallery erupted. One shouted: “F*** you and f*** your apology. You deserve the death penalty.” Another screamed: “You killed a little girl.” Another shouted: “You deserve to be spat on.”
Sentamu launched his lethal attack outside Whitgift Shopping Centre in Croydon, South London, the day after Elianne and friends had mocked him. It marked the final escalation in a worrying trend of violence which began when he was a young boy. He was said to have an “extremely low” IQ and mental scars from childhood abuse in his native Uganda.
He brought a knife to the classroom aged just 12 and was bounced from school to school due to self-harm and unprovoked attacks on other pupils. In 2019, he threatened a student at knifepoint on a school trip, and on a different occasion attacked a classmate with a pair of scissors he had stolen from a teacher’s desk.
The same year, Sentamu was placed into foster care after his mother begged social workers over the phone to take him away. Aged 14, his outbursts intensified and he threatened to chop the tail off his foster carer’s cat if it got in his way.
Three weeks before Elianne’s murder, he messaged a friend saying he was contemplating suicide, adding: “The real me is evil.” And while on remand at Oakhill Secure Training Centre before his trial, Sentamu threatened another inmate who mentioned Elianne’s murder, shouting at him: “Do you want to end up like her, six feet under?”
In mitigation, defence barrister Pavlos Panayi KC said: “A crime as horrific as this leaves no real room for advocacy. There are no words that can possibly minimise, justify or excuse anything Hassan Sentamu did.” As well as justice reform, Denzil said schools should consider first aid training for youngsters, so that they may be able to help deal with a stab wound in an emergency. He also called for “intense mentorship” for troubled young boys from a young age.
He added: “I’m all for rehabilitation. Every Monday I go to Wandsworth Prison to do chaplaincy there.” And there are genuine young men that you can see will come out and make a change for their lives.” But there’s others who are celebrities there because of what they’ve done. So we just want to see tougher sentences.