Boy, 17, had ‘blood on his hand’ after Elianne Andam was stabbed to death at bus

A teenager was caught with blood on his hands after he stabbed a 15-year-old schoolgirl to death in a row over a teddy bear, a court has heard.

Hassan Sentamu, 18, plunged a knife into Elianne Andam’s neck after refusing to hand back her friend’s belongings who he had broken up with.

He attacked Elianne at a bus stop outside the Whitgift Centre in Croydon, south London, then fled the scene on September 27, the Old Bailey heard.

Sentamu, then 17, discarded the knife with Elianne’s blood on it in nearby Cedar Road and took the number 64 bus towards his home in New Addington.

Pc Peter Nolan, who arrested Sentamu, said he noticed blood on Sentamu’s thumb.

When asked for his name, Sentamu said he was called ‘John’ before he handed over his Oyster card with his real identity on it.

Footage of the arrest also shows him asking why he was being told to put his hands behind his back and placed into handcuffs.

The officer then called for ‘urgent assistance’, informing the defendant: ‘You are under arrest on suspicion of GBH, stabbing your girlfriend. Where’s the knife? Where’s the knife?’

Pc Nolan told jurors: ‘All I knew is that a young girl had been stabbed and the officers were doing what they could to keep her alive.

‘One of the officers that turned up said to me the female had sadly passed away and it was now murder.’

Elianne’s friend told officers she realised something was wrong before the attack when Sentamu arrived at the meet-up wearing gloves and a mask.

Describing the confrontation, she told officers: ‘I said where are you going. Well, where’s my things? And he was like “look I don’t want to hurt you”.’

The girl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said she was annoyed and wanted to get to school so her friend Elianne had grabbed his things.

She continued: ‘He then lifted up his hoodie quick, pulled out something and I saw a big knife.

‘And I turned around for one second then I saw her on the floor like trying to say stop basically with her hand out. He was there like over her bending.’

When she turned around again, Sentamu was gone and she ran as passengers at a nearby bus stop began ‘shouting and screaming’, she said.

Earlier, Pc Alex Smith described the ‘scene of chaos’ when he arrived outside the Whitgift shopping centre on Wellesley Road.

He told jurors: ‘There were people screaming, shouting, people running away. I knew a serious incident had occurred.’

He grabbed a first aid kit and took over chest compressions on Elianne, who was not breathing.

Pc Ben Carter arrived soon after and used a bandage to apply pressure to Elianne’s neck wound.

He told jurors: ‘Next to Elianne there was a school bag. Inside was a school planner that had her name on it and that was how we were able to identify her.’

Despite the efforts of members of the public and the officers, Elianne was pronounced dead at the scene at 9.21am.

Jurors watched CCTV footage of the incident in which Elianne was fatally stabbed and images of the defendant running away.

Moments before, Elianne appeared to be caught up in the drama when she recorded a short video clip on Snapchat.

Sentamu, who was studying sports science at Croydon College, has admitted manslaughter but denied Elianne’s murder on the basis of ‘loss of control’ because he has autism.

He denies a charge of having a blade, claiming he had a ‘lawful reason’ for carrying it.

The Old Bailey trial before Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb continues.

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