“Where’s my teddy, where’s my teddy?” would be one of the final words Elianne Andam would hear, before she was brutally stabbed to death in front of her horrified friends.
The 15-year-old schoolgirl died while bravely trying to defend her friend, the ex-girlfriend of Hassan Sentamu, who was refusing to give her back her beloved toy in the aftermath of their breakup.
Little did the aspiring lawyer know that Sentamu, who had a history of violent outbursts, was hiding a large kitchen knife under his clothing, which he readily brought out to plunge into her neck at the most minor of confrontations.
Despite admitting her manslaughter, the 18-year-old denied Elianne’s murder on the basis of “loss of control” due to his autism. His lawyer’s attempts to detail his traumatic childhood, which saw him flee domestic abuse in Uganda to detailing plans to kill himself, failed to convince the jury that he was not a murderer.
He was jailed for life with a minimum of 23 years at Old Bailey on Thursday, where Elianne’s heartbroken mother told him: “I am serving a life sentence of grief.”
Described by her family as “an amazing, beautiful girl”, Elianne had been a pupil at the prestigious Old Palace of John Whitgift School where she had excelled at music, drama and English studies, and had hopes of studying human rights.
Unable to face being “disrespected”, Sentamu, who had been studying sports science at Croydon College, had plotted to take drastic action after being humiliated by Elianne and her friends at Whitgift shopping centre.
The day before the killing, they had “teased” him by throwing water over him after he broke up with Elianne’s friend by text, telling her “Ur energy is dead I’m not rdy for a relationship…all the best (sic).”
Yet the petty dealings of a teenage romance would soon turn into a nightmare, after Sentamu sulked overnight and ominously told a friend: “Bro, I can’t let this slide.”
After brooding and plotting that night, he agreed to meet the girls again the next morning, on 27 September, in a car park at the shopping centre, with the conditions set to exchange belongings.
In a video interview played in court, his ex-girlfriend told police she realised something was wrong when he turned up wearing gloves and a mask.
She knew Sentamu had an “anger issue” – and likened his demeanour to a character from the London-based crime drama Top Boy, the court heard.
After she handed back his hoodies and tracksuit bottoms in a plastic bag, he revealed he was empty-handed and seemed “unbothered”, while she pleaded for her teddy bear to be returned.
A shocking short mobile phone video captured the moment Elianne stepped into the drama, smiling as she grabbed the bag from Sentamu in a gesture of solidarity, before her face turned to “abject terror”.
Chasing her in front of other schoolchildren, he drove the 12cm knife into her neck, severing the carotid artery and causing fatal injuries.
Recounting the horrific moment she was killed, her friend 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.”
When she turned around again, Sentamu was gone and she ran as passengers at a nearby bus stop began “shouting and screaming”, she said.
After fleeing the scene and disposing of the murder weapon, he was arrested less than 90 minutes later and found with a smear of blood on his thumb.
In a police interview, he was asked if there was anything he would like to say to Elianne’s family and answered “no”, the court heard.
Details of Sentamu’s childhood revealed he had suffered a troubled upbringing, which saw him flee Uganda from domestic abuse and spend time in foster care.
He confided that he did not think he would live past the age of 20, adding: “I look at my kitchen knives every night wondering if I should just end my misery now or live another day to see the ones I love. Life is hard and tough and I can break people physically and mentally.”
The month after Elianne’s death, Sentamu got into a row with a fellow inmate at Oakhill Secure Training Centre in Milton Keynes, jurors were told.
On being accused of killing girls, Sentamu responded: “I’ll do it again. I’ll do it to your mum.
“Do you want to end up like her, six feet under? I’ll do the same again.”
In a powerful victim personal statement, Elianne’s mother Dorcas spoke of her grief.
“Our home was full of music, her laughter and her energy. There was always warmth and joy because Elianne was there,” she said.
“But now the music has stopped. The laughter is gone. All that remains is the deafening silence - a hollow, painful silence that echoes through every part of my life.”
She said every morning she wakes in house that does not feel whole because her daughter did not live to celebrate her 16th birthday, her school prom or graduate from university.
“She had so much potential and would have changed the world and gone on to do the greatest things,” the mother added.
“Elianne had big dreams – she aspired to become a lawyer to fight for justice and make a difference but her life was stolen before she even had the chance to fulfil those dreams.”
