Adelaide father admits daughter’s murder

Petrit Lekaj’s 20-year-old daughter was found dead in a car near the family’s suburban Adelaide home. He was found next to her.

An Adelaide man has pleaded guilty to the murder of his daughter in July.

Petrit Lekaj appeared by video link in Port Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday and admitted killing Sabrina Lekaj.

The 20-year-old was found dead in a car near the family’s suburban Kidman Park home.

Her father was found next to her in the car with a serious abdominal injury and was treated in the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

Sabrina Lekaj was found dead next to her father. He’s admitted to killing her. Picture supplied

Sabrina Lekaj, 20, was found dead in a car near the family’s suburban Kidman Park home.

Petrit Lekaj appeared in court on Monday and admitted to killing his daughter.

The 49-year-old was later remanded in custody and held in James Nash House, Adelaide’s secure mental health facility.

In court on Monday, defence council Ben Sale said the guilty plea was entered after “a lot of consideration”.

Prosecutors asked for a 12-week adjournment in the case to allow time for toxicology and post-mortem reports to be finalised.

Lekaj, 49, was remanded in ongoing custody and will next appear in the Supreme Court on November 25.

Ms Lekaj’s brother Pyrrhus being comforted by mother Romina and grandmother at her funeral. Picture: Tom Huntley

Ms Lekaj was found stabbed to death in the passenger seat of a luxury Mercedes beside her injured father.

The late model car was parked just 250m from the Lekaj home the young medical student shared with her Albanian-Australian family.

South Australia Police smashed in the car’s window about 11.40pm and dragged Mr Lekaj from the vehicle.

Ms Lekaj was a high achiever who studied classical piano performance before going on to study a Bachelor of medical radiation science at the University of South Australia.

Friend Jana Fandi posted a tribute on Instagram, saying: “I can’t believe I’m writing this. My beautiful Sabrina.

“Incredibly talented pianist, high achiever and queen of dark humour. I love you. Forever in our hearts.”

The last thing she said to a close friend was “I love you, I’ll message you when I get home”.

Best friend Kat Valstar, 21, told news.com.au Ms Lekaj was worried she would argue with her father, after she had stayed overnight at Ms Valstar’s place after they went clubbing in downtown Adelaide on Saturday night.

The mother of Sabrina Lekaj, who was found dead in her Mercedes Benz at Kidman Park, posted this picture on social media. Her father has admitted killing her. Picture: Facebook

“She was worried she was going to get yelled at when she got home,” Ms Valstar said.

She said she had lost her best friend who she considered her “other half”.

“We were besties, always calling, texting every day … I had planned to see her this week, we were going to have lunch,” Ms Valstar told news.com.au.

When she didn’t hear from her on the Sunday, Ms Valstar assumed her friend had gone home to sleep. She got the devastating news about her violent death on the Monday.

“She was kind, caring, very smart and was always so good to her friends,” Ms Valstar said.

She wasn’t aware of any issues in Ms Lekaj’s family life that troubled her and could only recall her saying a couple of weeks ago she was frustrated her father was asking if she had a boyfriend.

Her final night was spent at an Adelaide club dancing without a care in the world.