Teenager Sentenced to 23 Years for Stabbing 15-Year-Old Girl to Death
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Hassan Sentamu has been sentenced to at least 23 years in prison for the September 2023 murder of schoolgirl Elianne Andam
By Gabrielle Rockson
Hassan Sentamu; Elianne Andam. Photo: Metropolitan Police
A teenager who stabbed a 15-year-old schoolgirl to death in England has been sentenced,
On Thursday, March 13, Hassan Sentamu was sentenced to at least 23 years in prison for the September 2023 murder of 15-year-old Elianne Andam, according to court sentencing remarks.
According to the BBC, Sentamu killed Andam on the morning of Sept. 27, 2023, after he had recently broken up with her friend and had seen the girls teasing him at the Whitgift shopping center in Croydon, south London.
After telling a friend he could not "let this slide,” the then-17-year-old met up with his ex and Andam the next day as part of a pre-planned meeting to swap items they had exchanged during their relationship, including a teddy bear that his ex was "especially keen to get back," per the sentencing remarks.
However, Sentamu showed up empty-handed without the items despite his ex returning his items, per a January 2025 Metropolitan Police news release.
According to the release, Andam ran up behind Sentamu and grabbed the bag of items that had just been returned to him. Sentamu proceeded to chase Andam before removing a knife from his waistband and stabbing her repeatedly, “including in her neck – a wound which proved fatal,” per police.
“After she collapsed to the ground, passers-by gave Elianne immediate medical attention while they awaited the arrival of emergency services who rushed to the scene, arriving within minutes,” the release continued.
Elianne Andam
Elianne Andam. Metropolitan Police
Andam received four wounds in the attack and died at the scene, per the sentencing remarks. Sentamu fled the scene and went on to hide the knife behind a wall in a backyard, but he was located by police and arrested less than 25 minutes after Andam's death.
"I close my eyes and see the horror of what she must have endured – the fear, the pain – and it breaks me over and over again,” Andam’s father Michael said in a statement to the Old Bailey per the BBC. “The thought of her final moments torments me – wondering if she was calling out for me, hoping I would save her – but I wasn't there.”
He added, "I couldn't protect her. That guilt will weigh on my heart for the rest of my life."
The BBC reported Sentamu was also given a one-year concurrent sentence for illegally possessing a knife.
The court heard that Sentamu had a troubled childhood and was given a police caution when he was 12 after he took a knife to school.
Elianne Andam. Metropolitan Police
Other abusive behavior included putting girls into headlocks and threatening to injure and chop off the tail of a foster carer’s cat, per the BBC.
During his sentencing on March 13, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb addressed Sentamu and told him he was “less able than others to express yourself and understand the thoughts and feelings of others.”
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“You have not yet fully developed the ability to cope with your own strong feelings such as those of worthlessness,” she continued. “These features provide personal mitigation.”
“The responsibility for Elianne’s death will be with you for the rest of your day," Cheema-Grubb added. “For the murder of Elianne Andam on 27 September 2023, you will be detained for at least 23 years which means, after counting the days served so far, a minimum term of 21 years and 199 days."
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