He Didn Do Nuffin
Murder is a crime committed by ordinary people in ordinary circumstances. Often, murders are domestic or the result of some sort of confrontation in a workplace or more often a public house, nightclub, at a football match, etc. The shocking thing about most murders is that they are committed for trivial reasons, reasons that are trivial at the time or seem trivial in retrospect.
In September 2023, Elianne Andam was murdered for as trivial a reason as any murder victim. She was a 15 year old girl who made the mistake of teasing a teen psychopath who stabbed her to death in a very public place. Hassan Sentamu was 17 at the time; that’s him below during his arrest in a Croydon park less than two hours after the murder. When he was arrested, he came out with that classic phrase “I didn do nuffin” suffixing it with “bro”. Indeed.
Today, at the Central Criminal Court, he was convicted of Elianne’s murder after an unnecessarily prolix trial in which the only subject discussed was his state of mind. Sentamu is said to be autistic and had pleaded guilty to manslaughter by the legal fiction of diminished responsibility. He will be sentenced at a later date, but in view of the terrible nature of the act and also his later comments, he will hopefully still be behind bars when Halley’s Comet returns in 2061.
According to The Guardian, Sentamu had a history of both attacking girls and carrying knives. While on remand, he was said to have got into an argument with another inmate and to have told him “I’ll do it again. I’ll do it to your mum. Do you want to end up like her, six feet under?”
After the murder, the area where Elianne died was covered in flowers and other tributes. There is now a bench there with a plaque and a mural. I sat on that bench last week while waiting for a bus. The crucifix around her neck sparkles as she would have done in life. I will have more to say about sickos like her killer at a later date. In the meantime, R.I.P. Elianne.
