Day 2 of the trial of the killer of Elianne Andam heard from police officers who made the arrest and who were at the scene on Wellesley Road: ‘There were people screaming, shouting, people running away’
Murder victim: Elianne Andam was 15 when she was killed in September 2023
The police officer who tracked down Hassan Sentamu on the day that 15-year-old Croydon schoolgirl Elianne Andam was killed outside the Whitgift Centre told the Old Bailey murder trial that he moved to make an arrest when he saw “a smear of blood on his thumb”.
Elianne Andam was killed after standing up for a friend who had wanted to get back her belongings back from her ex-boyfriend. Sentamu, from New Addington, denies murder on the basis his responsibility was diminished due to autism.
At the Central Criminal Court today, PC Peter Nolan gave evidence in which he said he had been at the police station on the morning of September 27, 2023, when he heard a young woman had been stabbed and he went out to look for the suspect.
He told the Old Bailey that when he saw a bus from Croydon he decided to stop it, to see if any passengers matched the description of the assailant.
PC Nolan’s body-worn camera captured the exchange as he detained Sentamu, who was 17 at the time.
When asked his name, the defendant said he was called “John”, but then handed over his Oyster card with his real identity on it. At that point, PC Nolan told him to put his hands behind his back.
The officer called for assistance, and told Sentamu: “You are under arrest on suspicion of GBH, stabbing your girlfriend. Where’s the knife? Where’s the knife?”
PC Nolan told the jury: “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.”
Blood on his hands: the Old Bailey jury was shown video from a PC’s bodyworn camera that showed the moment of Hassan Sentamu’s arrest
Prosecutor Alex Chalk KC asked the officer what he had noticed about the teenager he had detained. PC Nolan said: “I believed what I saw was a smear of blood on his thumb.”
The witness told jurors he then called for evidence bags to put over the handcuffed suspect’s hands before he was put in a police van.
As well as the footgae from the constable’s body-worn camera, today the jury was shown CCTV footage of the incident in which Andam was stabbed and images of the defendant running away, the knife in his hand.
Earlier in court, PC Alex Smith described the “scene of chaos” when he arrived outside the Whitgift Centre on the morning of September 27, 2023.
He told jurors: “There were people screaming, shouting, people running away. I knew a serious incident had occurred.”
Andam was stabbed in the neck and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Sentamu, who was studying sports science at Croydon College, has admitted manslaughter but denies Elianne’s murder on the basis of having had a “loss of control” due to his autism.
He also denies a charge of being in illegal possession of a knife, claiming he had a “lawful reason” to be carrying it.
The trial continues.
Read more: Elianne Andam was killed in ‘a fit of white-hot anger’ jury told
Read more: ‘Our failure can be read on the headstones of dead youth’
Read more: Croydon in 2023: London’s borough with most murder victims
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ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2024, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for a SEVENTH successive year in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine
