Eliyanna Andam’s aunt has spoken out one day after her 15-year-old schoolgirl niece was stabbed to death on a Croydon bus.
Marian appeared this morning and spoke from an address just half a mile from where her niece was stabbed in the neck and killed by an unnamed suspect.
Miss Andam has since been named locally, and police have arrested a 17-year-old boy on suspicion of her murder.
Her aunt spoke of the pain of the last 24 hours, with the much-loved youngster’s death having left the “big family” devastated.
Marian opened up on the schoolgirl’s hopes and ambitions to the Daily Mirror and told of the moment she “went to school and never came home”.
The aunt appeared outside Eliyanna’s mother’s Croydon home and delivered a powerful statement about her niece before promising that the family would speak further about the incident later on.
She said: “You just can’t comprehend the heartbreak of the last 24 hours, how Eliyanna went to school and never came home’.
“She wanted to be a lawyer, she went to private school paid for by my sister and had a great future ahead of her.
“She was a lovely girl, she loved doing her hair, had beautiful natural hair, and she really gymnastics.”
Marian said the “big family” has stuck together to support her bereaved sister in the wake of her daughter’s shock death.
Miss Andam is understood to have been stabbed after she stepped in to aid her friend during an argument.
The unidentified attacker was reportedly wielding a “foot-long” knife that he thrust into her neck after tensions flared, leaving her bleeding heavily.
The bus driver and a passerby attempted to stem the blood flow but were unable to, while the attacker ran away.
Emergency services were quickly called, but they were unable to save her life, and she was pronounced dead at the scene, with police later informing the family.
Marian said: “My sister is not feeling good, this only happened yesterday. It hasn’t sunk in yet, it’s a tragedy.”
