15-year-old Elianne Andam was walking to school during a regular rush hour on Wednesday, September 27, 2023, when a 17-year-old boy stabbed her with a machete on Wellesley Road in Croydon. The perpetrator was caught an hour later and is currently in police custody.
Prior to the stabbing, an eyewitness saw Andam’s friend and her friend’s ex-boyfriend arguing. She said that the victim’s friend “doesn’t want to go out with him anymore.” Andam rejected the flowers he tried to give her and shielded her friend when she was attacked. Civilians on the bus, as well as the bus driver, tried to help Andam, but she quickly lost a copious amount of blood. Different branches of the Metropolitan Police offered flowers with messages and paid respects at the crime scene. Civilians also offered bouquets and flowers for Andam during a vigil held in her honor.
“One death is one death too many,” said Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, in an interview with Sky News. He acknowledged that the motives behind knife crimes are complex. Khan says that he will “bear down on enforcement” and more importantly “give young people constructive things to do” so that they don’t join gangs and violence. He also thinks that these knife crimes are preventable, and not inevitable. When asked about the way boys are learning about masculinity and resorting to violence, and how the internet fills that void, Khan responded, “Everyone has a role.” He says that treating women right and treating people with respect has to be taught starting in primary school.
In life, Andam was a promising young woman who, according to her aunt Marian, excelled in gymnastics and aspired to be a lawyer. During the vigil, another one of Elianne’s aunts, Bishop Rosemarie Mallett, said she was a “beautiful person inside and out.” In a statement, Andam’s family said that she was “the light of their life. She was bright, funny, with many friends who all adored her.”
(featured image: Carl Court/Getty Images)
