Stab girl 'was pestered by man'

Arsema Dawit was stabbed to death as she returned home from school in south London on Monday.

The 15-year-old's body - still clothed in her school uniform - was found slumped in a lift in Matheson Lang Gardens, near Waterloo station, at around 4.30pm.

A man in his 30s, who was arrested on Monday night, was being questioned about the murder at a south London police station.

Wayne Fort, whose partner and nine-year-old daughter found the fatally injured teenager, said the victim had been troubled in the past by a man in his 20s or 30s.

"I encountered an incident about two months ago," he said. Mr Fort said he saw an argument between the man and a female member of Arsema's family in the stairway of the flats. He said the girl was warning the man not to harm her sister again.

"There was a chap who seemed to be infatuated with her," he said. "He seemed to have met her at the church. I could see from the efforts of the elders of the family they were trying to get rid of the man."

Mr Fort said his daughter was extremely upset by the discovery she made. "She is in a very bad state - she didn't sleep much last night."

After finding the body, Mr Fort said, his daughter came banging on the door of his flat, crying "Daddy, Daddy, quick, come! The girl's in the lift, she's on the floor, there's lots of blood."

The murdered teenager had celebrated her 15th birthday with her family on Saturday, he added.