Sabrina Lekaj’s father Petrit killed his gifted daughter over claims she was ‘throwing her life away’
In a video released by police, a detective asks how a murdered young woman received eight stab wounds. Her father answers: “I did them”.
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- Petrit Lekaj was a heroin dealer in his youth
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A father murdered his defenceless daughter in a fit of rage over his deluded fears that she was “throwing her life away” with her partying.
Convicted heroin dealer Petrit Lekaj, 49, stabbed high-achiever Sabrina, 20, both pictured below, eight times in her white 2002 Mercedes-Benz near their western suburbs home last year, the Supreme Court heard on Wednesday.
In an “appalling” and “terrible” case described by a judge as a tragic “irony”, the property developer snapped after confronting his daughter about her partying and recreational drug use.
The father-of-two– who has numerous drugs convictions dating back more than two decades, including for heroin trafficking – armed himself with a 15cm kitchen knife to “scare” his daughter on July 21.
Accusing her of ignoring his sacrifices and lying to him about her secret double life, he claimed she was “throwing her life away” with her social life.
She responded in a “typical insolent” teenage way that she “didn’t care” or “give a s...”, the court was told.
In harrowing evidence on Wednesday, the court heard her father took his knife from his trousers and stabbed her in the abdomen as she looked out the passenger window on Kidman Ave, just 250m from their home.
Screaming for her life, she desperately tried to escape the unprovoked attack by kicking the window. But instead of helping her or calling authorities, he got out of the luxury car – a birthday present from him to his daughter – and into the back seat, after which he stabbed her a further seven times and strangled her.
“It’s difficult to overstate how deeply troubling it is that a father would arm himself with a knife, even to scare his daughter, and then in such ordinary or commonplace circumstances his conduct escalates … to murder,” prosecutor Melissa Wilkinson told the pre-sentence hearing.
“(He) told police that he believed … his daughter was throwing her life away. His response to that, which, really … remains unexplained, was to violently take her life away.”
Neither Sabrina’s mother, Romina, nor her 12-year-old brother, Pyrrhus, gave victim impact statements and did not attend court on Wednesday.
Hours before she died, Sabrina, an ambitious and academically gifted student, partied on a Saturday night with friends at Hindley St nightclub Dog and Duck, having consumed cocaine, ecstasy and Xanax.
Court documents state that hours later, she had confessed to her parents that she had taken cocaine.
Her mother told police of changes in her behaviour, including not complying with curfews, suffering weight loss and having no money. Prosecutors revealed how police attended her Kidman Park home that Sunday afternoon to investigate driving complaints.
They found damage to her car. Her agitated father then asked police to call for an ambulance as his daughter was “off” but she initially denied taking drugs. Officers then drove her to the nearby Queen Elizabeth Hospital for tests.
Police later spoke to her and her parents, explaining that “everyone was okay and no one had been seriously hurt”. She and her father drove to get fast food from a nearby Hungry Jack’s just before 7.30pm.
His wife of 24 years woke at 10pm to find them missing.
After failing to contact him several times, when he finally answered he said: “Call the police, call the police, I’m sorry,” a prosecution outline revealed. Police launched a large-scale search and spoke to him before he told his wife: “I’ve done a terrible thing, I’ve done a terrible thing.”
They were found at 11.30pm after he drove local streets with her lifeless body inside.
Sabrina, a well-loved and talented student who had studied classical piano and was completing a University of South Australia radiology degree, died at the scene.
Petrit Lekaj, described by friends as a well-known member of Adelaide’s Albanian community, was found slumped in the front seat with serious self-inflicted abdominal injuries. He later confessed to police after being interviewed in the Royal Adelaide Hospital and then at the secure James Nash House.
Describing it as among the most serious of its type, Ms Wilkinson said she wanted to “emphasise the irony” Justice Trish Kelly had expressed.
“As a 26-year-old himself … was involved in crimes involving illicit drugs and was given opportunity by the courts yet he gave his daughter no opportunity,” she said on Wednesday.
Condemning the “exceptionally serious violence”, she said it was an unprovoked attack on his innocent daughter, who should have been safe.
“Fundamentally … Sabrina Lekaj was entitled to trust her father and expect that he would protect her,” she said.
“He is described in character references as a devoted family man. She may well have felt the same way, and may well have felt that getting into the car with him … was not a significant or concerning step to take.
“Her safety should not have been compromised or put at risk through a violent attack perpetrated by her father.”
Ms Wilkinson said he failed to give first aid, call for help or drive a short distance to hospital. She said it was “difficult to fathom” how he believed it was right to threaten her with a knife.
“He made no attempt to scare her,” she said. “His first reaction was to stab her. The violence perpetrated on (her) by her father was unprovoked.
“She was unarmed. She presented no threat to her father and she was unable to defend herself.”
Ms Wilkinson urged Justice Kelly to give “little weight” to character references.
The father, who had not worked for six months before the attack and suffered mental health issues, is facing life in jail after admitting murder. Under state law, he is eligible to a discount of up to 40 per cent.
Ben Sale, defending, said his client was remorseful for the “appalling” murder of the “apple of his eye”.
“So we are left with the question … of how could a man who has no history of violence, is not a violent or abusive father, who seems well-liked and known as being a kind and family man, do what he did that day,” he said.
“Regrettably neither (the psychiatrist) or myself, or indeed the prisoner, have any answers.” His client’s “state of mind” and “medical problems” were highly relevant.
Justice Kelly will sentence next week.