Friends pay tributes to Sabrina Lekaj, 20, found dead in suspicious circumstances in her car at Kidman Park
Shattered friends have paid tribute to the intelligent and talented young woman found dead in her Mercedes-Benz alongside her wounded father on Sunday. He is charged with her murder.
Sabrina Lekaj was a gifted, vivacious student, who had just celebrated passing her uni exams.
But the 20-year-old’s life was cut tragically short on Sunday.
The body of Ms Lekaj was found in her car next to her father.
He is charged with her murder.
There has been an outpouring of tributes to the “beautiful and happy” university student, and gifted pianist, who was found dead in suspicious circumstances.
Police found her body alongside her seriously injured father Petrit, 49, on Kidman Ave at Kidman Park, just before 11.40pm on Sunday.
Ms Lekaj, who was studying medical imaging at the University of South Australia, and her father — who had a serious abdominal injury — were found inside her white 2002 Mercedes-Benz just 250m from their western suburbs home.
Officers were forced to smash the driver’s window to drag Sabrina’s father out of the car, which he had recently gifted to her.
Mr Lekaj, a well-known member of the local Albanian community, remains under police guard while sedated in the Royal Adelaide Hospital.
In the Port Adelaide Magistrates Court on Tuesday, police applied for a Warrant of Remand for a murder charge.
Western Districts detectives are investigating what sparked the stabbing but have yet to interview the property industry figure and talented band singer.
He is due to face a bedside court hearing on Friday.
Dozens of Sabrina’s friends gathered on Tuesday to remember the popular high achiever.
They said she had scored nearly perfect marks in her Year 12 exams, while her social media accounts showed she had also studied classical piano performance at Adelaide University.
Friends told The Advertiser Sabrina had celebrated on Saturday night after passing her university exams.
Best friend Kat Valstar, 21, of Morphettville, was one of the last people to see the bubbly girl alive.
“Her last words to me were: ‘I love you, I’ll message you when I get home’. But she never did … I feel like a piece of me has disappeared,” Ms Valstar said.
“I don’t have my other half. She was my best friend.”
Jana El-Omr Fandi, 20, of West Croydon, paid tribute to “the smartest young woman that I’ve ever met” who was an “extremely talented and incredible pianist”.
“She was just such a beautiful soul and honestly I am lost for words,” she said.
“She was so funny all the time, she was such a happy young woman.
“She just wanted to be involved in anything to do with medicine … but unfortunately she won’t be able to achieve that. She just wanted to help people and she always wanted to do things for others.”
Klea Hanson, 22, of Oakden, said: “She was such a beautiful girl, happy and bubbly ... always the life of the party.
“She was so talented and had the world at her feet. She was always the first to get up and dance with her mum and dad and little brother. I feel very upset that her life has ended so tragically.”
Specialist police officers are supporting Sabrina’s mother and younger brother at their home. Her mother was too distressed to speak publicly.
It remains unclear what sparked the incident. Police said investigations were ongoing.
Neighbours said the family was quiet and polite. They said Mr Lekaj was cheerful while mowing the front lawn just hours before his daughter’s death.
Detective Chief Inspector Tony Ransom has said police started looking for the white Mercedes just before 10pm on Sunday after members of the public said they were concerned about the welfare of the father and his daughter.
He would not go into details on whether the incident was related to domestic violence, and would not comment on reports from neighbours that police had been called to the family home earlier on Sunday over a disturbance.