Murder charge laid over Celeste Manno’s alleged killing

A surprising detail has emerged about the mental health of the man accused of killing Melbourne woman Celeste Manno in her home.

A Melbourne man accused of killing his former colleague Celeste Manno was not on any medication and had no mental health issues, a court was told.

Luay Sako was on Thursday charged with the murder of the 23-year-old woman who was found dead at her Mernda home in the early hours of Monday morning.

The 35-year-old Roxburgh Park man did not appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday night because of technical difficulties in the cells of the Melbourne West police station where he is being held.

Defence lawyer Sam Norton told the court his client was not on medication and did not have mental health issues when asked about custody management issues.

“The only one is that it’s his first time in custody,” Mr Norton said.

Luay Sako allegedly stalked and killed Celeste Manno in her home in Mernda.

Celeste Manno’s alleged murder on Monday shocked her friends and family, who mourned the beloved 23-year-old this week.

Police made a request in court to be given extra time to put together their evidence brief because they needed to go through mobile phone records, CCTV footage and the amount of exhibits collected at the crime scene.

This was needed because of the “sheer volume of exhibits” collected from the crime scene so far, Detective Senior Constable Michael Drew said.

He said there was extensive CCTV footage that needed to be reviewed and not all of it was in the police’s possession.

Magistrate Luisa Bazzani granted police until March 16 next year to provide the hand-up brief but ordered a summary of the allegations to be presented to defence lawyers within 14 days.

There was no application for bail made on Thursday evening.

The young woman’s former colleague allegedly became obsessed with her when she was briefly nice to him after he was sacked from a Serco call centre last year, it has been reported.

He has remained in hospital under police guard since Wednesday but was taken in for questioning on Thursday afternoon before being charged with murder.

Mr Sako will return to court for a committal mention on April 27 next year.