Elianne Andam was known, above all, for her caring nature. During her memorial service, her father recounted an evening when she found six snails flushed out on the pavement due to the rain. She picked up the “slimy creatures” and moved them out of harm’s way so they would not die prematurely. “Oh, the irony,” her father said.
On 27 September 2023, Andam stood up for her friend, who had recently broken up with her boyfriend. They met Hassan Sentamu, who was 17 at the time, to exchange items. Her friend handed a bag to Sentamu but he failed to hand over her items, including a teddy bear she wanted back.
Andam ran behind him and snatched the bag back. Sentamu chased after her and pulled out a 12cm kitchen knife out from under his hoodie. He stabbed Andam in the neck in front of horrified onlookers, including the 15-year-old’s friends, outside the Whitgift shopping centre in Croydon, south London.
Her friend recounted the horrific scene in court. She said: “I just saw Elianne on the floor, like backing up on the floor with her hand out like this, basically saying ‘stop, stop, stop’ and I’m pretty sure I saw him bend and like try and do something else, like stab her again.”
Sentamu fled the scene but he was arrested 90 minutes later. The officer who arrested him said he believed he “saw was a smear of blood on his thumb.” After the attack Andam was comforted by a bus driver, who held her hand and told her that she would be OK as she slipped out of consciousness. She died at the scene.
The violent act was not one enacted in the heat of the moment. Sentamu had recently broken up with his ex-girlfriend via text, telling her: “Ur energy is dead I’m not rdy for a relationship…all the best (sic).” The day before the attack, the girls teased and threw water over him in retaliation, which left him feeling “disrespected”.
That evening, Sentamu told his friend “bro, I can’t let this slide.” His friend tried to talk him down, messaging back: “This is your life. Don’t mess the chances in your life. Don’t do anything dumb.”
On the morning of the attack, he wore two pairs of gloves, three layers of clothing and a mask, all of which he discarded along with the knife after fleeing the scene.
Before the meeting, his ex-girlfriend said he became angry during an argument over the phone: “I just told him never ever speak to me like that ever again, ‘cos I said I’ve never been spoken to like that in my life,” she said.
During his trial, details of his “traumatic” upbringing in Uganda emerged, where he witnessed domestic violence and was beaten with a metal pole at boarding school. After he arrived in the UK at 11 years old, he was involved in incidents of violent and aggressive behaviour, including taking a knife to school, putting girls in a headlock, and expressing a desire to harm a cat and chop off its tail.
He admitted manslaughter but denied murder, claiming he lost control of himself because of his autism. This defence was rejected and Sentamu, who is now 18, was found guilty of Andam’s murder by a majority verdict.
Andam’s death shocked the Croydon community. The spot where she died was soon full of flowers and cuddly toys. Hundreds attended vigils to remember her, with the rapper Stormzy among the mourners. A year after the tragic attack, a painted mural of Andam, who wanted to be a human rights lawyer, was erected by the bus stop where she died.
After the verdict, Detective Chief Inspector Becky Woodsford, who led the murder investigation, paid tribute to Andam, saying: “What has really stuck with me is that Elianne always did what she thought was right and stood up for her friend.”