The man who murdered Melbourne woman Celeste Manno should be handed a life sentence behind bars for the “unprovoked, savage and cowardly attack”, a court has been told.
Luay Nader Sako has pleaded guilty to stabbing the 23-year-old woman to death while she slept at her family home in Mernda.
He had bombarded her with unwanted messages, some graphic and obscene, in the year before her death and stalked her for months, including researching the floor plan of her home to locate her bedroom.
Celeste Manno (inset) and flowers outside her Mernda home, where she was killed.Credit: Simone Fox Koob
On the third and final day of Sako’s plea hearing, the court heard that the 39-year-old’s risk of reoffending was high and there was the possibility he could stalk female prison guards while he is behind bars.
Forensic psychiatrist Dr Rajan Darjee told the Supreme Court that Sako posed a moderate to high risk of further stalking, and, if he did return to stalking, a high risk of serious violence.
Darjee said if he was attracted to a female member of prison staff who showed him special attention, support and kindness at a time when he felt alienated, rejected and despondent, there was the possibility he would stalk them.
“I’m not saying he will, but if dynamics very similar to the dynamics that led to [the offending] occur in prison, you can see that happening,” he said.
“He would have to feel they were attractive and feel that they were special in the same way he felt with the victim.”
Luay Nader Sako arrives at the Supreme Court in Melbourne on Tuesday.Credit: AAP
The court also heard that Sako, who had worked with Manno at a call centre, bought a kitchen knife on August 11, 2020, three months before the November 16 murder, and did online research of Manno’s home, including its floor plan.
Sako bought the knife from a supermarket the day after he was arrested and interviewed by police about sending texts to Manno, in breach of an intervention order she had taken out against him.
Sako told Darjee he had bought the knife because he needed it to use for cooking, but the psychiatrist didn’t believe this explanation.
“If one accepts he didn’t buy the knife for legitimate purposes, then I think the only plausible explanation is … he is thinking about harming the victim.”
Sako also told the psychiatrist that in the weeks before the homicide, he identified Manno’s home through online research and drove past it on two or three occasions. These drive-bys were likely to validate the online research he had been doing, Darjee said, and be for “reconnaissance” about the logistics of what he might have to do to enter the house.
Darjee said he believed that during these months Sako was thinking about confronting Manno and had thoughts of killing her, but most likely it wasn’t until he drove to her house in the early hours of November 16, 2020, that he had definitely decided to murder her.
Prosecutor Patrick Bourke, KC, said the evidence showed Sako had had thoughts of killing Manno for several months.
He said Sako stopped trying to communicate with Manno and instead “something much different” was going on, as he took steps to find the young woman’s home, buy a knife, obtain a hammer and activate a second phone. The prosecution contends that an aggravating factor in the case is that the murder was premeditated for a significant period.
Celeste Manno with her boyfriend Chris Ridsdale.Credit: Facebook
Bourke said Sako was feeling persecuted and unfairly treated by police and Manno, and more importantly was feeling rejected, humiliated and jealous, with his feelings of rage peaking when he saw pictures of Manno and her boyfriend hours before the “unprovoked, savage and cowardly attack”.
“We say it’s those motivations that are overwhelmingly playing a role in the accused deciding to do what he did, knowing it was wrong,” he said.
“She’s in her home, in her bedroom, asleep, at 3.30 in the morning, she lives with her mum, and that’s where the accused decides to go, that’s when he decides to go, when she could not be more vulnerable. That’s part of the plan.
“He doesn’t rock up to her workplace and wave a knife around in the middle of the day, doesn’t walk up to her in the supermarket – what he does do is find her house, finds her bedroom and goes there in the middle of the night.
“That’s all significant planning, thought and execution of that plan.”
Bourke said that despite Sako’s guilty plea he had shown no remorse and blamed any number of other people for his offending, including the police, the deceased, her mother and brother.
“This relentless shifting of the blame and avoidance of responsibility should be considered when thinking about his prospects of rehabilitation and chances of reoffending in the future,” he said.
Bourke said that the case was the most serious example of murder, and life in prison was appropriate.
Sako’s lawyer, Tim Marsh, said that in the lead-up to the murder, Sako’s mental state was “complex and shifting” and the motivation behind the offending complicated by his client’s severe impairment from a personality disorder. Marsh said a life sentence was not appropriate.
“What additional benefit would the imposition of a life sentence give considering he is already aged 39?” he said.
“He did not choose to be this way … he’s not a person engaged in drug abuse, substance abuse. He has unfortunate serious and debilitating mental illness which had profound effect on his ability to view the world and respond appropriately to it.”
Justice Jane Dixon will sentence Sako at a later date.
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