A teenager who stabbed a schoolgirl to death in a row over a teddy bear has been found guilty of murder.
Hassan Sentamu, 18, admitted to manslaughter after stabbing Elianne Andam, 15, in the neck outside a bus stop next to the Whitgift Centre in Croydon, south London, in September 2023.
Sentamu attacked Andam with a kitchen knife in "white-hot anger at having been disrespected" after she stood up for his ex-girlfriend, the Old Bailey heard.
Andam had travelled with her friend to the bus stop to meet Sentamu. The ex-couple had arranged to meet there to return each other's belongings after breaking up.
A handout image of Elianne Andam from the Metropolitan PoliceMETROPOLITAN POLICESentamu brought a kitchen knife along to the meeting and also wore two pairs of gloves and a face mask.
When the friend, who cannot be named for legal reasons, handed a bag to her former boyfriend, he failed to hand over her items, including a teddy bear.
The 15-year-old's friend told the court: "Elianne ran behind him, grabbed the bag and started running and laughing as a joke. It was the type of thing that Elianne would have done.
"He then lifted up his hoodie quick, pulled out something and I saw a big knife.
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Elianne Andam was killed on her way to school last SeptemberPA
Screengrab from bodycam footage issued by the Metropolitan Police of the moment Hassan Sentamu was arrested
PA
Family and friends of Elianne Andam at the scene in CroydonPA"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."
Prosecutor Alex Chalk KC said: "He exacted vengeance on a young girl clearly running away from him and posing no threat."
He quickly fled the scene, chucking his gloves and mask in the bin and hiding the weapon in a garden. Officers arrested the teenager just 90 minutes after the attack, after stopping a bus near his home in New Addington.
He threw his gloves and mask in a bin and hid the knife in a garden but was arrested within 90 minutes after police stopped the number 62 bus near his home in New Addington.
The kitchen knife used in the attack
PA/Met Police
CCTV footage of the moment of the attack
PA/Met Police
Sentamu has denied murder, claiming his autism spectrum disorder had caused him to lose control during the meetup.
He was also found guilty on a charge of having a blade, a charge he also denied as he claimed that he had a lawful reason for carrying it.
Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Inspector Becky Woodsford said it was a "violent, aggressive and frenzied knife attack on a young girl".
"Elianne was doing what was right, she was standing up for her friend," she added.
