Elianne Andam, 15, was knifed to death when she showed ‘solidarity’ to her friend who had turned up to collect a cuddly toy from 18-year-old Hassan Sentamu, a court heard
A teenage killer refused to apologise to his ex-girlfriend for swearing at her before he stabbed her friend to death the following day, a court has heard.
Elianne Andam, 15, was knifed when she showed ‘solidarity’ to her friend who had turned up to collect a cuddly toy from her ex-boyfriend 18-year-old Hassan Sentamu. She grabbed back Sentamu’s belongings, which her friend had given him, because he failed to bring the bear to the meeting near the Whitgift Centre in Croydon on September 27 2023.
Sentamu had brought a knife to the scene after the girls had splashed him with water the day before. Sentamu admits manslaughter by diminished responsibility, but denies murder, claiming he lost control of himself because of his autism.
Jurors were shown a prerecorded video of Sentamu’s ex-girlfriend answering questions from defence barrister Pavlos Panayi, KC. Answering questions wearing a white school shirt and brown coat, the girl said her relationship with Sentamu ended on the phone near the end of September 2023.
She said that in the call Sentamu lost his temper, told her not to interrupt him and swore at her which upset her. She said she messaged him after the call to ask him to give her her teddy back. The girl said she told her friends that Sentamu had upset her feelings and been rude to her.
She said Sentamu would sometimes behave oddly and had been to a special educational needs school, and she had told her friends this. She had called Sentamu ‘f—ing ugly’ in messages to Elianne. Mr Panayi asked why she arranged for her friends to come with her to meet Sentamu. ‘Because I didn’t want to go by myself,’ she replied.
Asked how she felt about Sentamu at the time she said: ‘I was very mad at the time.’ She said she was in Whitgift shopping centre on 26 September 2023 when a friend of Sentamu’s spoke to one of her friends and said they could meet Sentamu.
She said she did not want to see him that day but her friends wanted to go and were saying she was ‘too nice’, ‘too quiet’ and shouldn’t let Hassan speak to her like that. She said she spoke to Sentamu on a bench outside Superdry and asked him to apologise for swearing at her but he refused.
‘Did he explain why he wouldn’t apologise?’ Mr Panayi said. ‘No,’ the girl replied. She said she told her friends she wanted to go home but they wanted to go and ‘tell him to say sorry.’
‘Did you want that to happen?’ Mr Panayi said. ‘No,’ the girl replied. She said the situation had become ‘heated’. The girl said her friends were teasing Sentamu and she heard them say something about him being ‘crosseyed’. When asked why she walked away the girl said: ‘Because the conversation was just annoying me.
‘Because it was just going on and on and I just wanted to go home.’ She said her group and Sentamu eventually seemed to become annoyed. ‘They were all telling me to throw water on him.’
She said she did not want to and said no but they said ‘do it’. She said her friends gave her a bottle of water to show on Sentamu but she did not want to, but she did squirt a bit at him which did not hit him.
She said Sentamu looked at her and said ‘you can throw it if you want.’ ‘Was Hassan being bullied by some of your friends?’ Mr Panayi said. ‘I don’t know,’ the girl replied.
‘Were any of your friends angry?’ Mr Panayi asked. ‘I think just annoyed,’ the girl replied. She said she never heard anyone threatening Sentamu but wasn’t always listening. ‘Did someone say they would throw acid on him?’ Mr Panayi said. ‘No,’ the girl replied.
‘Did someone say they would come to his house or send someone to his house?’ Mr Panayi said. ‘No,’ the girl replied. ‘Did anyone say they would damage or destroy his clothes?’ Mr Panayi said. ‘No,’ the girl said.
‘Have you told any lies about 26 September so that your friends don’t get into trouble?’ Mr Panayi said. ‘No,’ the girl replied. She said she did not feel bullied by her friends when they told her to go and speak to Sentamu when she did not want to.
Sentamu, of Croydon, denies murder and having a bladed article in a public place. The trial before Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb continues and is set to last until January.
