Hassan Sentamu 'bullied by group of swearing girls' day before Elianne Andam stabbing, court told
Hassan Sentamu’s friend thought the teenage killer was being ‘bullied’ by a group of girls the day before he knifed 15-year-old Elianne Andam, a court heard. The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told defence counsel Pavlos Panayi KC the confrontation inside the Whitgift Shopping Centre was ‘annoying’ and ‘petty’ during a pre-recorded cross examination played to jurors at the Old Bailey on Tuesday, December 17.
Sentamu, 18, denies murdering Elianne in Croydon on September 27 last year on the basis of diminished responsibility due to autism. At the outset, Mr Justice Cheema-Grubb told jurors: "His case will be that the killing was caused entirely by a loss of self-control because his Autism Spectrum Disorder had substantially impaired his ability to exercise self-control."
Then aged 17, Sentamu stabbed Elianne to death when she grabbed a Tesco bag from him containing his possessions near a bus stop on Wellesley Road. Sentamu’s ex-girlfriend had agreed to meet him after their break-up to exchange items, but he turned up empty handed without her teddy bear.
At the Old Bailey, Sentamu’s friend was asked about the behaviour of a group of girls, including Sentamu’s ex-girlfriend and Elianne, at the Whitgift Shopping Centre on September 26. Asked what he meant when he said ‘they were very aggressive’ in his police questioning, the boy said: "They were angry, but like angry and laughing."
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'Hassan always had anger issues, he would get triggered easily'
He agreed the girls were ‘making fun of’ Sentamu, but could not recall any threats. Asked if Sentamu was being ‘bullied’, the friend said: “It seemed like it, yes.” He then said he was ‘worried’ about ‘offensive language’ that included ‘swearwords’, jurors heard.
Asked why he found the confrontation ‘annoying’ he said: “Just the fact it was petty, over a break-up.” As more CCTV footage from the shopping centre was played, the friend said the ‘bullying’ continued and ‘was getting worse’, jurors heard.
He described the body-language of the girls as ‘energetic’ but could not remember which girl threw the water. He also confirmed it was fashionable for young men to wear Covid facemasks after the pandemic had finished.
He also confirmed telling police one of the girls said ‘we should bang this guy’, meaning 'to punch', but that he felt it could be a ‘joke’ or ‘just giving verbal’. He then confirmed telling the officer ‘Hassan always had anger issues, he would get triggered easily’ and ‘He would just have this look in his eyes like he was about to target someone’.
After this, Mr Panayi read out the boy’s other comment: “It wasn’t really anger. He just didn’t really understand. We thought it was sad, really. With [her] he always had a soft spot. He would come up to me and say he was trying and bought so many things, and things were going for a minute.”
Asked by the police officer if Sentamu felt scared, he said: “He must have felt threatened when they spilled water… He must have, just the way the behaviour, he must have felt embarrassed.”
Alison Morgan KC also took the boy through his police interview, asking him if a girl calling him cross-eyed was what he meant by ‘bullying’. He said 'Yes'. He also said he could not remember if Sentamu was wearing gloves and a face mask the day before the stabbing.
Sentamu denies murder. The trial under Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb continues.
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