Killer who stabbed schoolgirl Elianne Andam, 15, to demise in row over a teddy bear is jailed for all times with minimal time period of 23 years

The killer who stabbed schoolgirl Elianne Andam to death in a row over a teddy bear has been jailed for life with minimum term of 23 years.

Hassan Sentamu, 18, flew into a fit of ‘white-hot anger’ and stabbed Elianne in the neck with a kitchen knife outside the Whitgift Centre in Croydon, south London, before fleeing the scene and dropping the knife on his way.

He had admitted manslaughter but was found guilty of murder and having a blade after a jury rejected his claim that autism affected his ability to exercise self-control. 

The teenager, who family called ‘kind’ and ‘vibrant’ in impact statements today, was brutally killed after showing ‘solidarity’ for her friend, who was going to collect a cuddly toy after breaking up with Sentamu.

She grabbed back Sentamu’s belongings after her friend handed them over when he didn’t bring the bear to the meeting on 27 September 2023. 

In a scene of terror on the south London street he chased down the year 11 pupil and stabbed her four times including in the neck. He had brought a knife to the scene after the girls had splashed him with water and insulted him the day before.

In a victim impact statement, Elianne’s mother Dorcas Andam said she was the ‘kindest, most loving daughter’ who was ‘vibrant, creative, and purposeful’ and loved to sing and braid hair.

She said: ‘Elianne was my world, she was the kindest most loving daughter I could have asked for she was vibrant, creative and purposeful.

‘She loved deeply, loved to sing, to braid hair always practising new style. Our home was full of her music, laughter and energy. There was always warmth and joy when Elianne was there.

‘Now the music has stopped the laughter has gone – all that is left is a deafening silence that echoes through my life.’

Addressing Sentamu, Mrs Andam continued: ‘You brutally murdered her in the most humiliating way in broad daylight.

‘Mercilessly killing her on the floor as she begged for mercy. You walked away showing no remorse as if her life meant nothing.

‘You did not only kill Elianne, you killed me mentally and emotionally. Your actions were senseless and evil.’

Addressing Sentamu, she said he had ruined her life when he killed her daughter in the most ‘deliberate’, ‘senseless’ and ‘evil’ way.

Elianne was full of potential, had dreams of becoming a lawyer and would have gone on to do ‘the greatest things’ if her life had not been taken, Mrs Andam said.

She added: ‘The question that forever haunts me is why. .. What did she ever do to deserve such cruelty?’

Sentamu admitted manslaughter due to diminished responsibility claiming he lost control of himself because of his autism but an Old Bailey jury convicted him of murder in January. He was also convicted of having a bladed article in a public place.

Joined by two dock officers, Sentamu wearing a long black coat, white shirt and black tie cast his eyes to the floor and bowed his head as he listened to the impact of his actions. 

The teenage killer wiped away tears as he was sentenced. 

In a televised address, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said Elianne, an aspiring lawyer, was a ‘hard-working, happy girl’ with a ‘radiant smile’.

She told the defendant: ‘Elianne was 15 when you murdered her, she will always remain just 15, she will never realise the potential of her life.’

She continued: ”It is a sad fact of our time that many families lose loved ones because a young man who is aged 17 or under has carried a knife in public and used it.

‘You have not yet developed fully the ability to cope with your own strong emotions such as feelings of worthlessness.

‘Stand up Hassan Sentamu, you have taken the life of a precious child you have devastated the life of those who knew and loved Elianne Andam.’

‘The responsibility of Elianne’s death will be with you for the rest of your days.’

The driver for his actions was his ‘short temper and aggressive tendencies’ which combined with his ‘deliberate decision to carry a knife,’ she said.

As he was sent down, there were angry shouts from the public gallery rejecting his earlier apology.

A young woman, thought to be a friend of Elianne, screamed: ‘F**k you and f**k your apology bro, you deserve the death penalty. You deserve to be spat on, you deserve to be stoned to death.’

Speaking in court, Elianne’s Father Michael Andam said: ‘I close my eyes and see the horror of what she must have endured – the fear, the pain – and it breaks me over and over again.

‘No parents should ever have to bury their child, let alone in such a violent and cruel manner. 

‘The thought of her final moments torments me – wondering if she was calling out for me, hoping I would save her – but I wasn’t there. I couldn’t protect her. That guilt will weigh on my heart for the rest of my life.’

Her Cousin Denzil Larbi told the defendant: ‘What you did was the most monstrous and evil act that is imaginable. You will forever remain a villain in our story.’ 

Sentamu was angry after Elianne and her friends had insulted him and thrown water at him at an encounter in the Whitgift centre the day before the killing.

He had told the girl to ‘shut the f–k up’ in a phone call and the girls wanted him to apologise but he would not.

They called him crosseyed and made fun of the special educational needs school he attended.

Sentamu remained emotionless and when they left one of the girls joked that ‘tomorrow he would kill them all.’

He texted a friend and asked if the girls had made him look like a fool saying ‘bro I can’t let this slide.’

The two groups arranged that they would meet to exchange possessions the next day.

After brooding all night Sentamu took a knife from his kitchen and concealed it in his trousers.

He wore a pair of cotton gloves over latex gloves and a mask.

Some of them were scared to go to the meet up because they thought Sentamu was ‘crazy’ but agreed to go.

His ex-girlfriend returned a bag of his possessions but he had not brought hers.

Prosecutor Alex Chalk, KC, said: ‘Elianne was aggrieved on her friend’s behalf.

‘And so, at around 8.30am whilst Hassan was walking outside the Whitgift Centre, Elianne took the plastic bag back.

‘It was a gesture of solidarity with [her friend] that cost Elianne her life.

‘Because the defendant chased after her, cornered her, and used the kitchen knife to stab her repeatedly.

‘He raised his right arm and he rained blows down on her.

‘He drove the knife 12cm deep into her neck, severing the carotid artery and causing injuries that were unsurvivable.

‘Despite the rapid arrival of the emergency services and intensive efforts over the course of nearly an hour, Elianne died at the scene.’

The driver of a passing bus saw her holding her neck with both hands and blood pouring out ‘as if it were a fountain.’

Angela Owusu-Afriyie, who was a passenger on a passing bus said: ‘He pulled something out of his waist and then started pounding her-‘

‘Then someone said ‘oh, he’s got a knife’ and there was a spurt of blood.

She said she stood back while police did chest compressions and saw Elianne’s friends asking ‘where is she, where is she?’

Police identified Elianne by a school planner in her bag.

Sentamu ran from the scene and disposed of the knife over a garden wall.

He messaged a girl he had been texting romantically just before the killing and said ‘hey I don’t think we can meet’.

He was arrested with blood on his hands after a police officer stopped a bus near to his home address and gave his name as ‘John’.

A post-mortem found four stab wounds, to the calf, leg and shoulder with the fatal wound to the neck.

Sentamu’s ex-girlfriend said she was scared when she saw he was wearing a mask and gloves as it was out of character.

She told police: ‘I knew something was wrong because he had on black gloves.

‘He kept telling me he left it in different places. He lied to me so many times which is another reason I knew something was going on.

‘I was scared, I knew that he gets angry.

‘He was looking me up and down and saying ‘look at you’ sort of like disgustedly.’

‘He said ‘I don’t want to hurt you’.

‘I saw him pull something out then I saw the big knife.

‘Elianne was on the floor trying to say ‘stop’ and he was there bent over her.

‘I didn’t know she was stabbed, I didn’t think it was real, I thought he hit her.’

‘I’ve never run so fast in my life,’ she said.

Sentamu was given a police caution for possession of a knife after he brought one to school following a truancy incident.

One a school trip in 2019 he threatened another pupil with a knife and was placed in a pupil referral unit where he threatened a child with scissors.

Sentamu was not named publicly as Elianne’s killer until his eighteenth birthday in September 2024.

He has been diagnosed with autism and ADHD and has an IQ of 74, which is extremely low.

Family and friends of Elianne in the public gallery tutted and rolled their eyes when Sentamu suggested that he would want to teach children when he’s eventually released from prison.

‘I will devot my life to making sure that others do not make the same mistakes I have made,’ he wrote to the judge.

In his closing speech prosecutor Alex Chalk, KC, said: ‘We for the prosecution acknowledge with compassion that Hassan Sentamu has had a troubled and disrupted childhood and possibly worse.

‘Hassan has demonstrated he is more than capable of dishonesty but we know it has been hard.

‘But members of the jury, that cannot sensibly amount to an excuse or justification for the murder of a defenceless 15-year-old girl, Elianne Andam, a girl whose solidarity with her friend cost her her life.

He said the defence case was that Sentamu’s ability to control himself had been substantially impaired by his autism.

Mr Chalk said: ‘There is no evidence that Autism Spectrum Disorder causes people in general to lose control and inflict frenzied murderous violence, and no evidence that Autism Spectrum Disorder caused Hassan to inflict frenzied murderous violence.

‘The issue is whether an individual could have restrained himself if he wanted to.

‘We all know people who are hotheads who might kick off, who might lose it.

‘We also know they can restrain themselves if they want to.’

In a dramatic statement outside court, Elianne’s family called for the justice system to be overhauled as they feel ‘abandoned and ignored’.

They said: ‘There is no justice that can truly bring us peace, no sentence that can ever truly bring back our beloved Elianne, our beautiful and faith filled daughter sister cousin and friend as well.

‘She was a light in our lives full of love for her family, her friends and god while we are gratetful that the legal system has done what it can the truth is that no amount of time in prison will ease our grief or fill the void that is left by her presence.

‘Our only hope now is that the real change comes from this tragedy knife crime is robbing too many lives we do not want another family standing where we are mourning the life taken too soon something must be done.

‘We would like to thank the emergency services and the police for their dedication in seeking justice for Elianne.

‘We are also deeply grateful to the Croydon community for all the love and support, the compassion they have showed us in the darkest hours.

‘Elianne deserved a long and beautiful life, though she is gone we will carry her in our hearts for ever and we will continue to speak her name thank you.’

In a statement on behalf of the wider family, they criticised the justice system and said that sentences should reflect the brutality of the crime.

They said: ‘While the court has delivered it’s judgement, justice has not been served, the judicial system has failed to reflect the sheer brutality of the crime, nor the unimaginable suffering our daughter endured at the hands of her murderer.’

They added that ‘overhauling the broken judicial system and establishing effective deterrent’ would be the best way to honour Elianne’s memory.

‘The legal systems response has left us feeling abandoned and ignored. Rehabilitation should never come at the expense of the victims,’ they said.

Sentamu, of Croydon, denied but was convicted of murder and having a bladed article in a public place.

He was sentenced to a minimum of 23 years imprisonment; minus the 531 days he has already spent in custody.