The teenager who stabbed to death Croydon schoolgirl Elianne Andam was wearing gloves like killers from TV show Top Boy, her friend told the Old Bailey.
Elianne, 15, was fatally stabbed by Hassan Sentamu during a meeting outside the Whitgift shopping centre, and died at the scene despite desperate attempts to save her life.
The meeting had been arranged for Elianne’s friend to swap possessions with Sentamu after the breakdown of their relationship.
It is said Sentamu failed to bring his ex-girlfriend’s treasured teddy bear to the meeting, and then flew into a rage and stabbed Elianne when she stood up for her friend.
Jurors heard Elianne was stabbed and fell to the ground, and she held out her hand and begged him to “stop” as Sentamu went to attack her again.
Elianne’s friend, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told police in a video interview played to the Old Bailey on Tuesday, that she knew something was wrong when Sentamu arrived at the meeting wearing black gloves and a blue facemask.
The girl told officers she knew Sentamu had an “anger issue”, as he had shouted at her previously, and during the fateful meeting she “thought he was gonna hit me”.
“I thought that he had something on him because … watching shows and stuff like, for example, Top Boy, whenever someone’s about to get killed they always have on specifically black gloves”, she said.
“I’ve never seen him wear black gloves, it’s not cold outside.”
The friend had broken up with Sentamu ten days before the stabbing, which happened on September 27 last year outside the Whitgift shopping centre in Croydon.
She tearfully described the attack to police, saying she knew Sentamu could be volatile but she did not know him to carry a knife.
“I turned around for a split second, because I was in shock, and then I turned again to look at Elianne - she was on the floor”, 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 he...I’m pretty sure I saw him bend and like try and do something else like stab her again.”
The Old Bailey heard Elianne was laughing as she filmed herself on Snapchat moments before the attack, and the spark for Sentamu pulling out a knife was allegedly when Elianne grabbed hold of the Tesco bag of his possessions.
Her friend described Elianne’s actions as “a joke”, but the court has heard the schoolgirl’s face turned from laughing to “abject terror” when Sentamu pulled out the knife, jurors have been told.
“I saw the knife and I just saw...I didn’t see the stab but I saw it gets raised and I knew”, she said.
Her friend said the meeting had been arranged by text, and she handed over a Tesco carrier bag containing Sentamu’s clothes as agreed.
When he appeared to be empty-handed, she began asking “can I have my things please?”, the court heard.
She said Sentamu claimed to have her possessions in he pocket of his Trapstar tracksuit, then said he had left the teddy bear at home, and at times he started to walk away.
“I knew something was wrong because he had on black gloves and a blue mask and one of his hands was in his pocket, like he had…gripping on to something”, she said.
“He went to his pocket, and I was looking because I was scared, because I thought he had something.”
The girl said she challenged Sentamu when he appeared to be laughing, and then he turned to her and said “look at you” in a derogatory fashion.
“I pushed his shoulder and I looked at him and I said ‘where are you going? Well, where’s my thing?’
“He was like ‘look, I don’t want to hurt you’ - I knew he was getting angry but I didn’t know, obviously, I didn’t know that he had anything on him.
“He was like ‘I don’t want to hurt you’ cos he thought we was gonna get angry, and then we carried on walking and then behind me, Elianne (and friends) - I heard them laughing and then Elianne ran up behind him as a joke and grabbed the bag as a joke and carried on laughing and then ran.”
Jurors have been shown CCTV footage of Elianne grabbing the Tesco bag from Sentamu, prompting him to chase after her.
“Hassan got mad and said ‘Oh you know what’ and lifted…”, she told police.
“She grabbed the thing, because I was annoyed because I wanted to go to school. He then lifted his hoodie quick, pulled out something, and I saw a big knife and I turned around for one second then saw her on the floor, trying to say stop basically with her hand out.”
Describing the immediate aftermath of the stabbing, the girl continued: “He was there, over her, bending.
“I turned around again and he was gone, and then we ran.”
She described “shouting and screaming” as the group of teenagers feared they were about to be attacked.
The court also heard evidence from Elianne’s friend that Sentamu has “anger issues” and had sworn at her 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’.
“I said no man should speak to a girl like that and he said ‘oh well, there’s a first time for everything’.
“And I said so that’s how you want to be like, portrayed as someone that wants to be talking to females like that, basically.”
Sentamu has admitted stabbing to death Elianne, but denies murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility due to his autism diagnosis.
Prosecutor Alex Chalk KC told jurors on Monday that it is said Sentamu acted out of “white hot anger” because he had been publicly disrespected by girls.
Sentamu was seen on camera disposing of the knife, and was arrested around 90 minutes after the stabbing.
He had taken the number 64 bus towards his home in New Addington, and went confronted by police officers he had blood on his hand.
Sentamu initially claimed his name was “John”, but he was quickly identified by his Oyster card.
PC Peter Nolan told the court: “I believed what I saw was a smear of blood on his thumb.”
He told jurors he called for evidence bags to put over the handcuffed suspect’s hands before he was put in a van and taken into custody.
Sentamu, who was studying sports science at Croydon College, has admitted manslaughter but denied Elianne’s murder. He also denies a charge of having a blade, claiming he had a “lawful reason” for carrying it.
The trial continues.
