The cowardly killer of Melbourne woman Celeste Manno couldn’t help but stare at the glowing blue orb placed at the front of the courtroom.
The size of three footballs, it shone among a sea of black in its dark and gloomy surroundings.
Inside were the ashes of Luay Sako’s 23-year-old victim, who was last seen alive when he repeatedly stabbed her in the chest with a knife on November 16, 2020.
Aggie Di Mauro and Tony, Celeste’s father, enter the Supreme Court of Victoria on Thursday carrying their daughter’s ashes under a white blanket.
Some of Celeste Manno’s ashes (pictured) were brought to court inside a blue sphere that illuminated the gloomy courtroom.
Above is the blue orb that Celeste Manno’s family brought to the courtroom: the size of three soccer balls.
Resembling a docile bookworm, with his dark-rimmed glasses and manicured hair, the 39-year-old did his best not to look into the blue glow placed next to the mother whose daughter he had so cruelly butchered in the dark. of the night.
On Thursday, Sako was sentenced for Ssupreme court of victoria Justice J.ane Dixon to 36 years in prison with a non-parole period of 30 years.
Ms. Manno’s devastated family cannot help but believe that Sako deserved nothing less than a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Manno’s mother, Aggie Di Mauro, could barely contain her anger as she said so outside court after Sako was taken away to begin his sentence.
Luay Sako as he appeared when he briefly worked with Celeste Manno. Since then she has been changing her appearance.
On Friday, a clearly fatigued Di Mauro told Daily Mail Australia she thought it was important that a part of her daughter was in court while her killer learned her fate.
What Sako felt, if anything, as she stared at the blue beacon at the front of room four was none of her business.
‘I couldn’t care less. I never looked at it,” Mrs Di Mauro said.
The devastated mother said she hoped justice would be served for her daughter and wanted her to be a part of it.
“Celeste was there to help me because I felt like I needed to be in the place where I was supposed to bring him some kind of justice.”
‘That’s why I brought her here. She wasn’t there for him. She wasn’t there to provoke anything in the judge. She was there because I felt like she belonged there because this was supposed to be the day she got justice.’
“Unfortunately that was not the result.”
Sako is taken to jail after being sentenced in the Supreme Court of Victoria on Thursday.
The hammer that Sako used to enter Celeste Manno’s bedroom
Ms Di Mauro remains hopeful that Victoria’s Director of Public Prosecutions may lodge an appeal against Sako’s sentence, but admitted her hopes were not high.
Members of Manno’s family plan to meet with prosecutors next week to discuss their opinions.
“The fact that (Judge Dixon) handed down 36 years with a minimum of 30… well, that’s not going to pass the test of being manifestly inadequate, so I don’t feel confident about an appeal here, but I’ll do what I have to do.” force an appeal,” said Ms. Di Mauro.
Sako murdered Mrs Manno just hours after finding out she had a new boyfriend.
The wiry loner had already been furious about an intervention order that Ms. Manno had issued against him just a few months earlier.
How and what the police did to protect Ms Manno in the months before Sako murdered her in her own bed could still become the subject of civil proceedings.
Di Mauro declined to speculate on how the fight for justice for her daughter might continue.
What became abundantly clear on Thursday in the shadow of the Victorian Supreme Court was that a fight was brewing.
Aggie Di Mauro and her beloved daughter Celeste Manno in happier times
Surrounded by family, Di Mauro lashed out at former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes and the police commissioner for paying lip service to changes to the state’s harassment laws.
“Many promises were made, none of them kept, all to make themselves look good… and then disgrace my daughter in this way,” he said.
“These politicians are only interested in helping when they see the numbers, nothing more.”
Manno’s death triggered an inquiry into stalking laws, and the Victorian Law Reform Commission’s report was tabled in Parliament in September 2022.
But none of the 46 recommendations of that investigation have been adopted.
The toll of the more than three years required for Sako to be sentenced has weighed heavily on Ms Di Mauro and her family.
Last month, Mrs Di Mauro and her family were finally able to bring Sako to court by reading her Victim impact statements.
But what they felt and what the court allowed them to say were very different.
Di Mauro said he wanted to address Sako’s vile attempts to escape justice using his alleged mental health problems.
Celeste Manno had no chance. Her family says the justice system let her down again and again.
Ultimately, Judge Dixon’s acceptance of these issues helped secure Sako a 30-year non-parole period rather than a life sentence behind bars.
‘I felt I had the right to let (Judge Dixon) know how I feel about what (Sako’s lawyer) would be doing and it was redacted. I couldn’t do it,” Ms Di Mauro said.
Sako had been assisted by forensic psychiatrist Dr Rajan Darjee, who helped convince Judge Dixon Sako that he suffered from a number of mental illnesses.
However, he also warned that Sako would likely stalk and harm another woman if released from prison.
“He is at moderate to high risk of further stalking and if he stalks again there is a high risk of violence if he becomes frustrated,” Dr Darjee told Judge Dixon during Sako’s pre-sentence hearing in January.
Ms Di Mauro said Dr Darjee’s bleak assessment of Sako’s rehabilitation prospects and the continuing threat to the community should have raised alarm bells for Judge Dixon.
‘That report was so damning… his own psyche. How do you say you think this doesn’t justify a life sentence? she said.