As the trial into the killing of 15-year-old Elianne Andam continues, jurors are set to hear another day of evidence at the Old Bailey. On Monday (December 9), prosecutor Alex Chalk KC opened the case against Hassan Sentamu, 18, accusing him of murdering Elianne in 'white hot anger' after she grabbed a Tesco bag from him in a 'gesture of solidarity' with her friend (and Sentamu's ex-girlfriend).
Sentamu, a Croydon College pupil of sports science, admits to manslaughter, but denies murder on the basis of diminished responsibility due to autism. He also denies possessing a blade in a public place, on the basis he had a 'lawful' reason.
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 of his Autism Spectrum Disorder had substantially impaired his ability to exercise self-control."
Monday's opening also included reference to a water splashing incident, a row over a teddy bear, and the reasons for the end of Sentamu's relationship. Then on Tuesday (December 10), jurors heard from two of the first police officers on the scene, the sergeant who arrested Sentamu, and the detective who trawled through CCTV to track down his movements.
The court also heard live and written evidence from witnesses, including an off-duty bus driver who ran to Elianne's side and gave her first aid. Other bus passengers gave detail descriptions of what they saw.
The latest bit of evidence came from Sentamu's ex-girlfriend, in the form of four separate police interviews given after the stabbing. She told officers she knew something was wrong when she saw Sentamu in black gloves, comparing it to Netflix crime drama Top Boy when someone is about to get killed.
Describing the stabbing and her friend's last moments, she said: "“Then I saw Elianne backing up on the floor with her hand out like basically saying stop stop stop, and he I’m pretty sure I saw him bend and like try to do something else like stab her again."
You can catch up on the latest from day two of the trial here.
'Stabbed, stabbed, stabbed, stabbed' - Elianne's friend
Asked about Hassan Sentamu's behaviour when they met before the stabbing, Elianne Andam's friend says: "I should have known. He was wearing gloves and a mask, should have known, and his hand was in his pocket the whole time."
Asked if she had any feelings, she says: "We all did."
Asked to recall the moments before Elianne grabbed the bag, she says: "She just asked him 'Please let me get my stuff like I gave you yours, just normal things like that, and he's saying 'No no no' and he's getting louder and becoming more aggressive.
"Elianne says 'We don't have time for this, [ex-girlfriend] just take the bag' and then I remember Hassan saying something like [Ex-girlfriend] I don't want to hurt you'.
"Elianne grabs the bag, runs with it, he gets his hand into his trousers, takes it out... Even before his hand came out I knew what he had. I had a feeling 'he's getting a knife, he's getting a knife'. I didn't see it because obviously I thought he was punching her. Then I realised he was stabbing her because there's not that much blood from punching.
"[It took] half a second [to catch up with her]. It was a little jog. You wouldn't think he was that angry, it was just a normal run. She was obviously covering her head and stuff, saying 'stop, stop, stop'.
"Just before he caught up she dropped the bag. He didn't stop and get the stuff he just stabbed her.
“He caught up to her and stabbed her in the back, in the back of her neck, of her head. I remember that for a fact because we all stood there… we just thought he was punching her and then I must have shouted ‘Oh my gosh he’s got a knife’.
“He stabbed her in the back of her head and then he stabbed her chest and then she must have lifted her legs up to try and like block him and she was covering her head and he stabbed
“She fell to the floor and she was grabbing her neck. Now she’s on the floor she’s saying ‘Stop stop stop’ screaming ‘stop stop stop’ and she’s still getting stabbed, stabbed, stabbed, stabbed. That all happened in literally seconds.”
“She was still fighting him, I guess, like defending herself.”
Asked how hard the blows were, she rates them a ‘10’.
She adds: “She was just on the floor covered in blood and he was still stabbing her.”
She says there were ‘10 minimum’ stabs while Elianne was on the floor and shouting ‘stop’.
She says Sentamu said ‘nothing’
She says he was chased away, but cannot remember who it was.
'I just see blood everywhere' - friend
Elianne Andam's friend opens her police interview by describing what happened after Elianne grabbed the bag from Hassan Sentamu.
"We all said we were scared of him. I’m assuming she was planning on giving the bag back because from what we have heard he’s crazy," she says.
"Then he starts chasing her and I see him take something out of his pocket and I assume he’s punching her, cos it looks like he’s punching her so many times, like punching her up. Then I see blood, everywhere. I just see blood everywhere. Everywhere.”
She then tells the police someone got off the bus to help Elianne, while she ran off.
Elianne's friend interviewed
After a short break, jurors are now watching footage from a police interview with another of Elianne Andam's friends.
The recording shows her sat on a brown sofa in front of a wooden table alongside a responsible adult.
We will bring you updates as the video is played.
'He didn’t show any emotion whatsoever' - ex-girlfriend
Alison Morgan KC then asks the girl questions for the prosecution.
Taking her through the mobile phone footage of Hassan Sentamu in the Whitgift Shopping Centre, she asks the girl if she remembers what Sentamu was saying.
The girl confirms she believed he was being ‘bullied’ by the other girls as he sat on the bench, with reference to being ‘cross-eyed’ and going to a special school.
When asked the girl says she did not equate this with a threat.
“I would have paid attention if it was a threat, yes,” she says.
Asked again about acid threats, going to his house, hurting his family, damaging his property, she says ‘No’ to all.
Taken to the day of the incident, the girl is asked if Sentamu appeared ‘scared’.
She says ‘No’.
Asked how he was behaving, she says ‘Very unbothered’ and ‘he didn’t show any emotion whatsoever’.
Defence finish their questions
The questions from Pavlos Panayi KC continue as Hassan Sentamu’s ex-girlfriend is cross examined during a pre-recorded interview.
The barrister then asks the girl about her comment to police that ‘he was scared’ on September 27.
She replies by saying: “It was me saying I don’t know if he was scared.”
She confirms after she left her friends threw water on him again.
He then takes her through the Skype calls she made with Elianne Andam that evening.
She says Hasan was never added to any Skype group calls after their breakup.
Mr Panayi then finishes his questions.
'Throw it, throw it, throw it'
Hassan Sentamu’s ex-girlfriend is being questioned by Pavlos Panayi KC during a pre-recorded cross examination.
Asked who was taking the lead, she says: “I don’t know.”
Asked if Sentamu was being bullied or teased by some of her friends, she says: “I don’t know.”
Asked if things were heated, she says: “Kind of.”
Asked if any friends were angry, she says: “I think they were annoyed.”
After more CCTV footage is played, she confirms he was splashed with water.
Mr Panayi then takes the girl to another piece of footage of Sentamu and the girls in the shopping centre recorded on a mobile phone.
He follows this with more questions about what the girls were saying to Sentamu, but she says she cannot remember.
Asked about the ‘cross-eyed’ insult, she says someone said: “That’s why you’re cross-eyed”.
Asked if she remembers her friends being angry and laughing at him, she says: “Yes.”
Mr Panayi then quotes from her police interview when she said her friends ‘would have done worse’ if she did not throw the water.
Asked if they said what they ‘would have done’, she says: “They didn’t specify.”
She then confirms nearly every girl was behind her whispering to ‘throw it, throw it, throw it’.
She denies that anyone threatened to throw acid, come to his house, send someone to his house, or damage or destroy his clothes.
The barrister then refers to another quote from her police interview when she was asked about threats and said ‘people might have said stuff’.
She confirms she meant that someone else might have said something threatening but she does not know.
Asked if she has told any lies about September 26, she says: “No.”
Cross examination resumes
Lunch is over at the Old Bailey.
It means jurors can get back to watching defence barrister Pavlos Panayi KC quiz Hassan Sentamu's ex-girlfriend.
The cross examination was pre-recorded at the court a few months ago so the teenager could give her best evidence.
The barrister is still taking her through the CCTV footage from the Whitgift Shopping Centre the day before Elianne Andam was stabbed to death.
Lunch at the Old Bailey
That's it for the morning session.
Unfortunately delays in getting the defendant to court meant there was a late start.
There will be more after the break.
Ex-girlfriend felt 'stressed' and 'wanted to go home'
Hassan Sentamu's ex-girlfriend is now taking questions from defence counsel Pavlos Panayi KC on her interaction with him in the Whitgift Shopping Centre the evening before Elianne Andam was killed.
She says Elianne was doing 'most of the talking' during the 20-minute discussion.
She says girls in the group were laughing, but is not sure if it was at Sentamu or about something else.
She confirms she was 'stressed' and 'wanted to go home'.
Asked if other girls were teasing Sentamu, she says: "I don't know."
She says Elianne and the other girls encouraged her to throw water at Sentamu, and when she refused they said ‘Do it’.
She then denies anyone mentioning his special school, saying any other mean things to him, or threatening him.
She then says she did not feel bullied, but ‘pressured’ by her own friends.
Sentamu's ex-girlfriend quizzed over texts
Prosecutor Alex Chalk KC is taking jurors through texts between Hassan Sentamu and his ex-girlfriend.
The court then watches footage of one of the girl being cross examined during a hearing held earlier this year.
Defence counsel Pavlos Panayi KC refers to a message sent by Sentamu that says: "What happened to us I missed everything we did how we texted 24s now ur energy is dead i m not rdy for a relationship we could ve been so much more all the best."
The pair then called each other on Skype, during which the girl claims Sentamu lost his temper and swore at her, the court hears.
She confirms Sentamu then sent lots of smiley faces, to which she replied 'nah yk what f**k you innit'.
She confirms Sentamu later blocked her.
She then confirms Sentamu later sent a message about 'collecting ur ting' in reference to the teddy bear.
She confirms she was messaging Sentamu while telling Elianne Andam what he was saying.
Asked how Sentamu's personality was different to hers, she says: "I felt I had to be careful of what I said to him, there were certain things, he would not get mad but he would start moving weird or like dry."
She confirms she told her friends that Sentamu had been to a special school.
She then goes through the texts between her and Elianne referring to Sentamu as a 'f**king ugly yute'.
Asked how she felt towards Sentamu at this time, she says: "Very mad."
Asked if she was making fun of him, she says: "I would say so, yes."
She then confirms there were messages about a Hello Kitty bag that Sentamu had bought her.
She confirms she wrote 'Maybe he'll give it to the gay boy' in reference to one of Sentamu's friends.
Why the delay?
The defendant is here one hour and 20 minutes late, but Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb has asked the jury not to hold it against him.
The reason for the delay is those who bring defendants to court 'are frequently bringing people late', the judge tells them.
Now everyone is in court, the trial can resume.
Alex Chalk KC is back on his feet and ready to go.
Court delayed
There are delays at the Old Bailey this morning so the trial is yet to resume.
We will let you know as soon as that changes.
Now would be a good time to take a look at all the images released at the Elianne Andam murder trial so far.
On Tuesday evening Scotland Yard shared CCTV stills and crime scene photos that have been shown to the jury.
Below is a photo of Elianne posing with her friends the evening before her death, but you can check out the rest here.
WATCH: Hassan Sentamu's movements in CCTV compilation
A video compilation of Hassan Sentamu's movements, captured on CCTV, was released for the first time yesterday.
During live witness evidence on Day 2, prosecutor Alex Chalk KC was assisted by DC Ashley Nelson in taking jurors through a bundle of CCTV stills and footage that showed Sentamu's movements before and after the stabbing.
You can watch the full video here.
What happened yesterday?
After the prosecution opened the case against Hassan Sentamu on Monday, on Tuesday live witnesses were called to address the jury for the first time.
We heard from first responders on the scene, a sergeant who arrested Sentamu near his home, and a detective who pored over CCTV to track the killer's movements.
You can read all about Day 2 of the Elianne Andam murder trial here.
Catch up on Day 1 and Day 2
You can catch up on Day 1 and Day 2 of this murder trial by reading through our blow by blow live blogs.
For Alex Chalk KC's opening you can read here.
And for the first day of live evidence you can read here.
Jurors shown 'murder weapon'
Police have released an image of the knife used by Hassan Sentamu for the first time.
Jurors were shown crime scene images during yesterday's evidence, including a photo of the knife behind a wall and images of similar knives found under Sentamu's kitchen sink.
Jurors heard how police used CCTV to show where Sentamu appeared to drop something behind a wall after leaving the crime scene.
Later they retrieved the knife from the same location and discovered Elianne Andam's DNA on the blade.
Images of a meat cleaver and bread knife, found at Sentamu's home, were also shown to the jury.
Prosecutor Alex Chalk KC asked jurors to note the similarity in handle design with the weapon found behind the wall.
Welcome to our live coverage
Welcome back to the Old Bailey where the Elianne Andam murder trial is about to enter its third day.
Hassan Sentamu, 18, is accused of stabbing the 15-year-old schoolgirl to death in 'white hot anger' in Croydon in September last year.
He admits manslaughter but denies murder on the grounds that his responsibility was diminished due to autism.
The judge is yet to enter court.
