The cowardly murderer who killed Celeste Manno was forced to stare at a “glowing orb” made from her ashes as he sat through his sentencing.
The court was told Ms Manno’s murderer, Luay Nader Sako, 39, would be eligible for parole after serving three decades behind bars, with an urn containing the young woman’s ashes placed at the front of the room.
The 23-year-old was slain shortly before 4am on November 16, 2020, as Sako broke into her family’s home and stabbed her to death as she slept in her bed.
He then drove to a police station, asking officers to shoot him and blaming law enforcement for her murder.
“She’s dead, she’s dead. Go have a look,” he said. “You know what happened, it’s your fault.”
The 39-year old tried averting his gaze from the glowing blue statue placed next to the mother whose daughter he had stabbed to death.
But Ms Manno’s mother Aggie Di Mauro said she didn’t care if the murderer had felt anything while being confronted with the striking object.
“I couldn’t care less. I never looked at him,” she said.
“Celeste was there for me because I felt that she needed to be at the place that was supposed to be going to serve her some form of justice.
“That is why I brought her in. She was not there for him. She was not there to evoke anything in the judge. She was there because I felt that she belonged there because this was supposed to be the day that she received justice.
“Unfortunately that was not the outcome.”
Di Mauro believes her daughter has been failed again by the system after her killer stalker was jailed for 36 years.
She spoke outside the Victorian Supreme Court on Thursday to say Ms Manno had been let down by Victoria’s authorities.
“We were forced to trust the system that we lost faith in three years ago,” she said.
“It failed Celeste then, and it failed her again now. The prosecution’s clear, clear belief was that the crime committed against Celeste warranted nothing less than a life sentence … It was such a vicious, vengeful and hateful attack on an innocent young woman.
“It’s outrageous, absolutely unbelievable that the court decided to grant him mercy, even though he has shown Celeste none.”
Just 30 minutes earlier,
Sentencing Sako, Justice Jane Dixon said he had begun stalking Ms Manno, his former team leader at a call centre, in June the previous year after he was fired.
He began sending her messages professing his affection on Instagram and was not deterred after she politely said she was not interested.
His messages became increasingly desperate and vulgar and, in July, 2020, Ms Manno began to “fear for her safety” and reported the incident to police.
An interim intervention order preventing contact was served on Sako, who cut contact initially before sending her a letter claiming he was a “victim of unfair persecution”.
“You came to regard yourself as a victim. Likely in the weeks before her murder,” Justice Dixon said.
The court was told Sako had identified her home by referencing an Instagram post to Google Maps and purchased a large kitchen knife on August 11.
He left his car, climbed the back fence, smashed through Ms Manno’s window and stabbed the young woman multiple times before leaving in about two and a half minutes.
Justice Dixon said this highlighted the “chilling efficiency” of his premeditated plan.
“You made sure you had the advantage over her by breaking into her bedroom when she was asleep,” she said.
“Your appalling crime is deserving of condign punishment.”
The court was told Sako had exaggerated and feigned mental health symptoms in the years following, “linked to a desire to avoid being attributed to a monstrous crime”.
But forensic psychiatrist Dr Rajan Darjee ultimately found that while he had significant mental disorders, he did not meet the criteria for a mental impairment defence.
Justice Dixon said she was satisfied his lifelong disorders had “severely impaired” his judgement, warranting a departure from the life imprisonment sought by prosecutors.
“I am satisfied this caused significant impairment of your mental functioning at the time,” she said.
Outside of court, Ms Di Mauro said law reform on stalking promised to her after Celeste’s death had still yet to be implemented.
“I’ve had three and a half years of endless meeting … when these people met with me they made promises, commitments. They wanted to start with the Victorian Law Reform Commission’s report into stalking laws,” she said.
“The VLRC report was tabled well over a year ago … I waited and waited until I could wait no longer, I basically realised the door was shut.
“There were lots of promises made, none of them honoured.”
– with NCA Newswire