‘I will get her justice’: Celeste Manno’s mum leads protest for mandatory life sentences after daughter murdered
The family of Celeste Manno, who was killed in her sleep, led a protest for mandatory life sentences for murderers.
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Protesters flocked to support the family of Celeste Manno as they call for mandatory life sentences for murderers, claiming the punishment for the man who murdered her wasn’t good enough.
The calls come after 23-year-old Ms Manno was murdered while she slept in her Mernda home by a former co-worker who had been stalking her on November 16, 2020.
Luay Nader Sako was sentenced to 36 years in prison with a 30 year non-parole period in February after he obsessively messaged Ms Manno for more than a year leading up to her murder, despite her rejecting his advances and obtaining a court-imposed intervention order.
Ms Manno’s family are demanding life sentences for murderers, with her mother Aggie Di Mauro leading a march from Victorian parliament to the Supreme Court in Melbourne on Sunday.
Addressing the crowd, Ms Di Mauro said her daughter had her “entire life ahead of her”.
“My beautiful sweetie, 23 years old, god she had plans,” Ms Di Mauro said.
“She was so excited because we were just coming out of lockdown.”
Ms Di Mauro became emotional as she addressed the crowd, tearing up as she told the gatherers of how she told her daughter she loved her on the night she was killed.
Moments later, she told the crowd she ran to her daughter’s room “and she was gone”.
“My sweetie, this was her downfall, too kind,” Ms Di Mauro said.
“The amount of times she said don’t contact her, she always said please.”
Ms Di Mauro slammed Victoria’s laws as “pathetic”.
![Ms Di Mauro pledged to “get her [daughter] justice”. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw](https://content.api.news/v3/images/bin/511a9d30cbab730c8a69f810539e4642?width=650)
“We don’t sentence murderers to life in this state and in most of the states in this country because of the brutality of the crime or the premeditation,” she said.
“The only time a murderer gets life in this state is if and only if their prospects of rehabilitation are so poor then if they are released, they might do it again.”
Ms Di Mauro said authorities had failed to protect her daughter, pledging to “get her justice”.
“You (authorities) didn’t protect her. The state did fail her. I failed her too but I will get justice for her … I don’t know how but I will,” she said.
“I snapped so I made her a promise that I will get her justice one way or another.
“As terrible as the crime was and that he committed it with chilling efficiency, she (Her Honour) did not believe a life sentence was warranted. I don’t get it, I don’t get it sweetie.
“It just drives me crazy … they don’t choose to be victims, damn it.”
A close friend of Ms Di Mauro, Gabriella Leonardi, said Victoria’s laws are “too soft” through tears.
“Our daughters went to school together and they were inseparable,” she told the crowd.
“Celeste didn’t get justice, the justice she deserved.
“Our laws are too soft. He’s (Sako) still out there and he’s still going to have some life left when she gets out. Celeste is in the ground, she’s not going to have that anymore. It’s time to show politicians and the government, everyone, that something needs to change.”
A petition calling for mandatory life sentences for murderers has garnered more than 8,000 signatures.
Luay Nader Sako, 39, used a hammer to smash through Ms Manno’s window of her bedroom before stabbing her to death.
He then handed himself in while Ms Manno’s mother, Aggie Di Maruo, found her daughter.
In a three-day pre-sentence hearing in the Victorian Supreme Court in January the court heard Sako obsessively messaged Ms Manno for more than a year leading up to her murder despite her rejecting his advances, and having obtained a court-imposed intervention order.
The court heard in January that Sako’s only interaction with Ms Manno at work being when Ms Manno offered “well wishes” on his last day at a Servo Centrelink call centre.
The court was told Ms Manno was the first person Sako had felt romantic feelings for, and he flew into a jealous rage after she posted a photo of her boyfriend on Instagram for the first time.
“It was on this particular night, the sight of Ms Manno with another man that triggered that rage, jealousy and humiliation,” prosecutor Patrick Bourke KC said.
Forensic psychiatrist Rajan Darjee told the court Sako had “homicide ideation” in the weeks before the murder and that he’d found Ms Manno’s address and floor plan online.
In closing remarks, prosecutor Patrick Bourke KC told Justice Jane Dixon the only appropriate sentence for the “very extreme” crime was a life sentence.
“We say this falls within the worst case of offending,” he said.
“She’s in her bed at 3.30am – that’s when the accused decides to do it. She could not be more vulnerable.”
Barrister Tim Marsh, representing Sako, told the court the murder was “unjustifiable” but did not deserve a life sentence.
“It’s simplistic to say this was motivated by jealousy and anger,” he said.
“The profound personality disorder, of which Mr Sako suffers, contributed profoundly to this offence.
“You heard it in Dr Darjee’s evidence, he said without that he does not believe the offence would have occurred.”
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