Confronting moment Celeste Manno’s distraught mum rips up her planned speech after her monstrous stalker Luay Sako was spared a life sentence over her murder
The mother of Melbourne woman Celeste Manno has lashed out at Victoria’s weak justice system after the cold blooded killer of her daughter avoided a life sentence.
Luay Nader Sako, 39, stabbed Ms Manno, 23, up to 23 times on November 16, 2020, as she slept in her own bed at her mother’s house in Mernda, in Melbourne’s north-east, where she thought she was safe.
On Thursday he was sentenced by Supreme Court of Victoria Justice Jane Dixon to 36 years in jail with a non-parole period of 30 years.
Celeste Manno was in the prime of life when she was murdered within the supposed safety of her own home by an angry and vengeful loner
Luay Sako couldn’t take being rejected and stabbed Manno to death
Ms Manno’s mum Aggie Di Mauro shouted in rage outside court as she tore up a speech she had prepared to read had Justice Dixon provided the desired outcome.
‘We were forced to trust the system that we lost faith in three years ago. It failed Celeste then and it failed her again now,’ she said.
‘Today’s outcome proves just how flawed the justice system is.’
Ms Di Mauro said her daughter’s murder warranted nothing less than a life sentence.
‘She did nothing to him,’ she shouted.
Justice Jane Dixon refused to sentence Sako to life in jail with no parole
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.
Struggling to contain her rage, Ms Di Mauro said protecting the community from monsters like Sako was clearly not a consideration of the court.
”Maybe it’s no longer paramount,’ she said. ‘Life sentences in this state … are seen as dreadful punishments only reserved for the most dreadful of crimes. The most serious of crimes.
‘This one was not serious enough. Was not dreadful enough. Her honour clearly didn’t think this was. It wasn’t one of them.
‘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.’
‘We were robbed,’ Ms Manno’s gutted father Tony added.
Dressed in grey and wearing dark-rimmed spectacles, Sako sat in silence from the prison dock at the rear of the court as his fate was sealed.
The court had been packed with Ms Manno’s loved ones, who dressed in black sat at the front of the court alongside her ashes in a large, glowing blue urn.
They gasped in despair as the verdict was handed down just before 4pm.
Ms Manno’s friends and family had each stood before Justice Dixon in a pre-sentence hearing last month to explain their grief.
Celeste Manno’s mum Aggie Di Mauro tears up her speech outside court of Thursday
Celeste Manno’s mum Aggie Di Mauro (pictured on Thursday outside court) addresses the media outside the Supreme Court of Victoria on Thursday
Tools of evil: The knife used by Sako to kill Celeste Manno (left) and the hammer the coward used to smash his way into her bedroom
In sentencing Sako, Justice Dixon said she had taken ‘full account’ of the victim impact statements of Ms Manno’s family in coming to her sentence.
She also took into account Sako’s guilty plea, which only came after his bid to escape justice on an mental impairment excuse failed.
Justice Dixon condemned the remorseless killer for the brutal murder, describing it as ‘utterly cowardly’.
She said Ms Manno deserved to live out her life, but Sako decided otherwise.
Justice Dixon described the crime as planned and premeditated.
‘You carried out the act with chilling efficiency,’ she said.
‘You made sure you had the advantage over her.’
Sako had been looking down the barrel of a life sentence until the court heard the evidence of forensic psychiatrist Dr Rajan Dargee, who told Justice Dixon that Sako had suffered various mental illnesses before and after his murderous actions.
Such mental conditions, when accepted by the court, routinely earn violent offenders discounts on their sentences.
‘Verdins principles’ – as they are known under Victoria’s Sentencing Act of 1991 – reduce the offender’s moral culpability and force a judge to consider the added ‘hardship’ jail will have on them.
Forensic psychiatrist Dr Rajan Dargee went into bat for the cowardly killer
They are principles rolled-out and relied upon by convicted criminals and their lawyers on a daily basis in Victoria.
Justice Dixon accepted Sako did suffer from depression and a personality disorder, but said it did not explain what he did to Ms Manno.
However, she agreed his mental condition was strong enough to ‘moderate’ his sentence.
Sako believed from the start he could escape responsibility for his wicked act by convincing forensic experts that he was criminally insane.
Four doctors agreed he knew too well what he was doing was wrong at the time.
They each dismissed Sako’s claims he had been under the control of an ugly, pointy-toothed man called ‘Isha’.
Sako had claimed a man with a big nose and large ears sat next to him as he drove to Ms Manno’s home and coaxed him to ‘end it’.
Each of the psychiatrists rejected those claims, finding Sako was faking the hallucinations.
While Sako failed in his bid to run a mental impairment defence, his use of Dr Dargee helped him avoid what ought to have been a life sentence in jail with no chance of parole.
Dr Dargee claimed Sako was suffering from a series of mental ailments when he killed his victim, including depression, an extreme personality disorder and body dysmorphia.
The facts suggested Sako was always in control of what he did that night.
Luay Sako has tormented the family and friends of his victim with a ‘tortured court process’
Last image: Celeste Manno believed Sako had finally stopped tormenting her when she posted this image of her and her boyfriend Chris Ridsdale to Instagram. He would murder he hours later
When the deed was done, Sako dumped his phone and drove to the nearest police station where he began what would turn into a near four-year legal process.
Caught literally with blood on his hands, there was never any doubt Sako carried out Ms Manno’s bloody execution in the dead of night.
He had murdered his former work colleague a little over a year after he began stalking her and just hours after he learned from an Instagram post that she had a new boyfriend.
Ms Manno had only briefly worked with Sako as his team leader at Serco – a customer call centre for Centrelink – when he was shown the door.
Her mistake in showing him kindness on his way out of the building resulted in a year-long campaign of frightening harassment in the way of endless messages over social media.
Ms Manno had been reluctant to pursue an intervention order, but had been encouraged to do so by her worried family members.
The application had enraged Sako, turning what doctors believed was a warped crush into a seething rage.
On August 4 that year he was served with an interim intervention order after appearing in court alongside his obsession.
But 11 days later Sako thumbed his nose at the order, sending Ms Manno a three-and-a-half page document urging her to withdraw her police complaints against him.
Celeste Manno had been reluctant to go to police about Sako’s harassments. She had treated him with kindness, but he would not back away
Sako had found the floor plans to Celeste Manno’s home (pictured) and knew she was there from the white car parked out front
Sako jumped the gate into Celeste Manno’s backyard, leaving a trail of blood on his exit. He knew exactly where she was sleeping after accessing floor plans to the house
The message terrified her so much she couldn’t bring herself to read it, instead sending it directly to the police officer she had been dealing with.
Sako was arrested and faced an attempt to pervert the course of justice charge – an offence that carries a 10-year sentence.
He purchased a knife and a hammer the very next day and over the next three months appeared to vanish.
Ms Manno believed the order had worked as Sako ceased his incessant harassment.
But lurking in the shadows Sako had embarked on an online research effort to track her down.
He eventually found the floor plans to her mother’s home and began driving up and down her street to confirm he had the right place.
On November 15, with just hours to live, Ms Manno felt comfortable enough to go public with her new boyfriend Chris Ridsdale, posting a smiling image of them together on Instagram.
Sako saw Mr Ridsdale’s smile as a massive insult, later telling Dr Dargee he felt he was ‘laughing maniacally at him’.
He murdered his victim just hours later.
Born in Iraq at the peak of dictator Saddam Hussein’s reign, Sako migrated to Australia in 1992 with his family – the eldest of five children.
Sako was aged around seven when he fled with his family from Iraq to Australia.
He grew up in Roxburgh Park – north of Melbourne – with his two brothers and two sisters.
While he suffered the ordinary trials and tribulations of a non-English speaking immigrant in a strange new land, his family described him as a caring and supportive son and brother.
Sako messaged Celeste Manno time and time again, creating fake Instagram accounts when she blocked him
Sako’s younger brother Lauren had been a violent thug, who in 2010 while aged 20 was sentenced to six years at a youth justice centre over the manslaughter of Matthew McEvoy.
He had performed well at school, excelling in maths and going onto tertiary studies.
It was at university Sako began to exhibit the traits of the angry and deranged loner he is today.
Sako’s transition into the workforce went as well as his time at university.
While he worked sporadically in retail jobs, Sako was mostly unemployed.
In April 2018 he joined Serco before promptly being shown the door by his bosses.
He tried to get jobs working with computers, in surveillance, security, installation and NBN work, but would never work a proper job again.
Sako had no history of mental illness, but the court heard he had never had an intimate relationship with a woman in his life before he met his victim.
His obsession with Ms Manno saw him at one point want to become her.
When she rejected his advances, he killed her.