Home Australia Celeste Manno: Top prosecutor refuses to appeal sentence for killer who relentlessly stalked and murdered 23-year-old as her mother responds: ‘I’m disgusted’

Celeste Manno: Top prosecutor refuses to appeal sentence for killer who relentlessly stalked and murdered 23-year-old as her mother responds: ‘I’m disgusted’

by Elijah
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Luay Sako stabbed Celeste Manno 23 times in her own bed after obsessively stalking her co-worker, but Victorian courts refuse to sentence him to life in prison

Victoria’s top prosecutor has refused to bow to pressure to appeal for a life sentence for the killer who stalked and murdered 23-year-old Celeste Manno.

Manno’s devastated family has campaigned for a life sentence for Luay Nader Sako, who earlier this month received 30 years in prison for breaking into Celeste’s home in the middle of the night and murdering her while she slept.

But on Friday, the Victorian Prosecutor’s Office declined to appeal the decision, leaving Manno’s mother to respond: “I’m disgusted.”

‘The State then failed her (by) not keeping her protected at that time. And now the courts decided to fail him again. Aggie Di Mauro told news about Nine.

“According to them, she did not deserve justice with a life sentence for him.”

The decision comes after Ms Di Mauro and other family members and supporters took to the steps of Parliament House in Melbourne last Sunday to demonstrate in support of justice for Celeste.

Ms Manno was stabbed 23 times by Sako, an obsessed co-worker, who used a hammer to break into her home in Mernda in Melbourne’s north-east in the early hours of November 16, 2020.

Luay Sako stabbed Celeste Manno 23 times in her own bed after obsessively stalking her co-worker, but Victorian courts refuse to sentence him to life in prison

Luay Sako stabbed Celeste Manno 23 times in her own bed after obsessively stalking her co-worker, but Victorian courts refuse to sentence him to life in prison

Sako had briefly worked with Manno at a Serco call center where she was a team leader and had been kind to him when he was fired for performance problems after just a few months.

He began stalking her, harassing her and professing his love for her and, despite Manno rejecting him romantically and obtaining an intervention order, Sako sent 140 messages from various Instagram accounts over a 12-month period.

Four months before killing her, Sako violated the intervention order and sent Manno a three-and-a-half-page letter that terrified her.

Sako was arrested but released, bought a knife and a hammer, and then appeared to have lost interest in Ms Manno and went into hiding for the next few months.

However, he had actually found the plans for Ms. Manno’s mother’s house and began driving up and down the street looking for the right house.

On November 15, just hours old, Manno felt comfortable enough to go public with her relationship with new boyfriend Chris Ridsdale, posting a smiling image of them together on Instagram.

Sako (pictured in handcuffs) avoided life in prison on February 29 after it was determined he suffered from significant mental disorders that had affected his judgement.

Sako (pictured in handcuffs) avoided life in prison on February 29 after it was determined he suffered from significant mental disorders that had affected his judgement.

Sako (pictured in handcuffs) avoided life in prison on February 29 after it was determined he suffered from significant mental disorders that had affected his judgement.

Sako seemed to have stopped his obsessive stalking of Celeste Manno, but he had actually bought this knife (above) and a hammer and became enraged when she began a new romance.

Sako seemed to have stopped his obsessive stalking of Celeste Manno, but he had actually bought this knife (above) and a hammer and became enraged when she began a new romance.

Sako seemed to have stopped his obsessive stalking of Celeste Manno, but he had actually bought this knife (above) and a hammer and became enraged when she began a new romance.

An enraged Sako would later say that he felt Mr Ridsdale’s smile was a mockery and that he was “laughing maniacally at him”.

What happened next would destroy the lives of Ms Manno’s family and now leaves them distraught because Sako, who was just 35 when she murdered Celeste, has a real chance of one day being released from prison.

A heartbroken Aggie Di Mauro has said her daughter had done everything she could to stop Luay Nader Sako from harassing her, but it wasn’t enough.

Judge Jane Dixon sentenced Sako to a maximum of 36 years behind bars for the “heinous crime”, but he will be eligible for parole in 2054, when he will be 69 years old.

Last weekend, an emotional Mrs Di Mauro told a rally in central Melbourne that her daughter had her “whole life ahead of her” before her murder.

My beautiful sweetheart, 23 years old, God, I had plans,” said Mrs Di Mauro. ‘I was so excited because we were just coming out of lockdown.

‘My dear, this was your downfall, very kind. The times she said not to contact her, she always said please.’

Ms Di Mauro criticized Victoria’s laws, calling them “pathetic”.

Celeste Manno My daughter 23 was relentlessly stalked by an

Celeste Manno My daughter 23 was relentlessly stalked by an

Celeste Manno’s mother, Aggie Di Mauro (both pictured), said the justice system failed her daughter after her killer avoided a life sentence and she is “disgusted” that the PPD is not appealing.

1711672958 59 Celeste Manno Top prosecutor refuses to appeal sentence for killer

1711672958 59 Celeste Manno Top prosecutor refuses to appeal sentence for killer

Aggie Di Mauro (above with Celeste’s father, Tony Manno) says she is “disgusted” that Victoria’s PPD has refused to consider giving her daughter’s killer a life sentence.

“We do not sentence murderers to life in prison in this state and most states in this country because of the brutality of the crime or premeditation,” he said.

“The only time a murderer gets a life sentence in this state is if and only if his prospects for rehabilitation are so bad that, if released, he could do it again.”

‘The victim does not exist, everything has been shocking and it is simply wrong. There is nothing related to the victim.

Mrs Di Mauro claimed the criminal justice system had failed her daughter for the second time by showing the killer mercy in passing sentence.

Judge Dixon refused to sentence Sako to life in prison on February 29 after finding he suffered from significant mental disorders that had affected his judgement.

Di Mauro said Sako deserved to serve a life sentence for brutally shortening his daughter’s life.

After calling the police in July 2020 out of fear for her safety when he disappeared from her sight in August, Manno thought Sako He had “learned his lesson” and “was afraid” he would never contact his daughter again.

‘Everything stops. He disappears. We literally thought it was over,” Ms Di Mauro said.

But then came the night he told his daughter he loved her and Manno had gone to bed.

Sako followed her to her mother’s house, climbed through her bedroom window and stabbed the girls to death.

Mrs. Di Mauro cried as she told the crowd last Sunday how she had run to her daughter’s room, “and she was gone.”

“It never, ever occurred to me… …that this beast would be capable of something like this,” he said.

Di Mauro said the attention Celeste received from him was neither wanted nor reciprocated.

She said Sako had made her daughter’s life miserable, but police initially did not take the girl’s complaints seriously.

Manno, 23 (pictured), was murdered in her sleep by Luay Nader Sako, 35, who broke into her home with a knife after obsessively stalking her online.

Manno, 23 (pictured), was murdered in her sleep by Luay Nader Sako, 35, who broke into her home with a knife after obsessively stalking her online.

Manno, 23 (pictured), was murdered in her sleep by Luay Nader Sako, 35, who broke into her home with a knife after obsessively stalking her online.

The distraught mother called for reform of harassment laws and the way police respond to alleged victims.

“I promised Celeste that I would give her justice one way or another,” Ms. Di Mauro said.

The Victorian Law Reform Commission launched an inquiry in the wake of Celeste’s murder, with 45 recommendations made by the report since its adoption.

But Di Mauro said she is disappointed by the delays in introducing such reform since her daughter’s death almost four years ago.

“They made commitments, promises and, silly me, I believed everything,” she said.

“And we know that, right now, if Celeste’s situation were happening… In the same way, it would happen again.”

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