By Simone Fox Koob
- Read an exclusive interview with Celeste Manno’s mother Aggie Di Mauro about her attempts to stop her daughter’s stalker and her fight to change the system here.
The devastated mother of murdered Melbourne woman Celeste Manno has expressed fury that her daughter’s killer avoided a life sentence, and lashed the state government for failing to enact reforms that could better protect victims of stalking.
Luay Nader Sako, 39, stalked Manno, a former colleague, for a year before he broke into the Mernda home she shared with her mother and brother in the early hours of November 16, 2020, and fatally stabbed her while she was in bed. She was six days away from her 24th birthday.
Sako had become infatuated with Manno after she was kind to him when he left his call centre job. He began repeatedly sending her messages on Instagram, despite Manno asking him to stop.
Manno and her mother reported their concerns about the stalking to police in mid-2020, and an interim intervention order was in place at the time of the murder.
On Thursday in the Victorian Supreme Court, Justice Jane Dixon described the murder as appalling and profoundly disturbing as she sentenced Sako, who pleaded guilty, to 36 years behind bars with a non-parole period of 30 years. He has already served more than three years in prison.
“Celeste deserved life, but you decided otherwise,” she said.
Dixon said the gravity of the offending was extremely high but Sako’s psychological condition at the time – which included an extreme personality disorder and depression – reduced his moral culpability to some degree.
She said he committed the crime with “chilling efficiency” and made sure he had the advantage over her by breaking into her bedroom at night.
“Crimes such as these are profoundly disturbing,” she said.
Manno’s family, dressed in all black, bowed their heads and some cried as they heard the sentence. Sako, wearing a grey prison tracksuit, sat expressionless in the dock.
Family and friends gathered on Thursday night at the grave of Celeste Manno for a vigil after the sentencing of Luay Sako.Credit: Justin McManus
Outside court, Manno’s mother, Aggie Di Mauro, said the system failed Celeste 3½ years ago, and had failed her again on Thursday.
“Today’s outcome proves just how flawed the justice system is,” she said.
“It’s outrageous, absolutely unbelievable, that the court decided to grant him mercy even though he showed Celeste none. Quite clearly his right to mercy was more important than her right to life.
“Clearly I’m devastated, we all are.”
Di Mauro said the prosecution argued for a life sentence because it was such a vicious, hateful and vengeful attack on an innocent young woman.
Celeste Manno’s mother Aggie Di Mauro (centre), flanked by Celeste’s father, Tony, and brother Alessandro, speaks to the media on Thursday.Credit: Justin McManus
“At this point, I can only pray that the [Director of Public Prosecutions] and Court of Appeal recognise that true justice in this case demands a life sentence,” she said. “Anything less is not only a grave injustice to Celeste but absolutely fails the community’s expectations in this case.”
Less than a month after the murder, the state government committed to “urgently” review the way the allegations of stalking are dealt with in Victoria, tasking the Victorian Law Reform Commission to review stalking laws.
The resulting report – the first Australian inquiry into non-family violence stalking laws – was released in July, 2021, and tabled in parliament several months later. It found the criminal justice system was not dealing effectively with stalking, with reports often minimised or trivialised.
It contained 46 recommendations, ranging from greater community education about what stalking entails, to improving the swamped personal intervention order system and increasing guidance for police and courts to identify and prioritise stalking cases, particularly those that are high risk.
On Thursday, Di Mauro said that after three years of meetings with various stakeholders, including figures in the state government, many promises had been made to change the system and honour Celeste’s legacy, but few had been followed through.
“There were lots of promises made. None of them honoured. All of them look the part, say what needed to be said, and then dishonour my daughter in this way,” she said.
In a statement, Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes said she acknowledged the pain felt by Manno’s family and loved ones and their ongoing advocacy in her memory.
“We are continuing to work on how we can better protect victims of stalking – because we know that stalking can cause lasting harm to survivors’ mental and physical health and can escalate to more serious offending,” she said.
“This work is complex and takes time to make sure we best protect victims of stalking – I stand by my promise to Celeste’s family that we will introduce change that reflects the seriousness of this crime.”
During a January plea hearing, the prosecution argued that Sako should receive a life sentence for the murder, describing it as the worst offending of its kind and pointing to evidence they said showed extensive premeditation.
Sako drove from his family home in Roxburgh Park to Manno’s home in Mernda on the day of the attack, where he scaled the side fence, walked into the backyard and used a hammer to smash the glass of her bedroom window. He was also carrying a knife he had bought three months earlier.
He stabbed her repeatedly even as she raised her arms and tried to defend herself. He was out of the car for just two minutes and 39 seconds before driving himself to the local police station, where he was arrested.
The prosecution had argued that Sako was motivated to kill out of rejection, humiliation, jealousy and rage, which had peaked when he saw a picture Manno had posted on social media of her with her new boyfriend, Chris Ridsdale, on November 15, 2020.
Prosecutor Patrick Bourke, SC, said Sako had also relentlessly tried to shift the blame and avoid responsibility for his conduct since the murder, which indicated that he was not willing to engage in rehabilitation and treatment.
But Sako’s lawyer, Tim Marsh, described his client’s prospects of rehabilitation as “open” and said a life sentence was not appropriate.
Marsh said while there was evidence of some premeditation, Sako’s mental state in the months before the murder was “complex and shifting”.
He said that the motive was more complex than the prosecution made out and was complicated by Sako’s extreme personality disorders, which “contributed extensively to the reasons why he committed this offence” and reduced his moral culpability.
Dixon on Thursday said Sako was likely to have experienced intermittent homicidal ideation in the lead up to the murder, and that seeing the photo of Manno and her boyfriend was the final trigger for the offending.
She said while anger and jealousy were factors in the murder, Sako’s motive was also complicated by his problematic personality traits, which led him to have severely impaired judgment.
The extreme personality disorder played a significant role in the commission of the offence, she said, adding that he was still capable of knowing the difference between right and wrong when he killed Manno.
If Sako had not pleaded guilty, she would have sentenced him to 40 years in prison with a non-parole period of 36 years.