A ‘demon’ charged with the gruesome stabbing murder of a young graduate has finally admitted killing her.
Luay Sako, 37, from Roxburgh Park, became obsessed with Celeste Manno when they worked together at a Serco call centre in Mill Park, Melbourne.
She was kind to him on the day that he was sacked and he began to stalk her, forcing Ms Manno to get an intervention against him.
He bombarded her with more than 150 messages from numerous Instagram accounts for about a year and, when she didn’t declare her love in return, he began to threaten her.
The unemployed loner then smashed his way into her home and stabbed her to death as she slept days short of her 24th birthday in November, 2020.
Sako originally pleaded not guilty to the killing but on Thursday changed his plea to guilty as Ms Manno’s devastated mother watched on.
Aggie Di Mauro sat metres away and stared at him the entire hearing.
Celeste Manno, 23, was murdered in her Melbourne home in November
Luay Sako, 37, from Roxburgh Park, became obsessed with Celeste Manno when they worked together at a Serco call centre. He has now pleaded guilty to her killing
Sako pleaded not guilty to the killing but on Thursday changed his plea to guilty as Ms Manno’s devastated mother watched on (Ms Manno and her mother pictured)
Sako previously indicated through his lawyers that he would be pleading not guilty by way of the mental impairment defence.
He will now return to court for a mention on April 19.
‘I can’t believe that this demon was actually within reach,’ Ms Di Mauro told the Daily Telegraph.
‘I just wanted him to feel that I never took my – not for a split second – never took my eyes from him.
‘Today, staring at him, all I kept thinking was ‘How could you literally, savagely, brutally kill someone who so sweetly asked you to please leave her alone?’
‘She didn’t know this individual.
‘How dare you feel so entitled that you can just take her away from me.’
It was the first time Ms Di Mauro had attended court, along with her sisters, son and Celeste’s father
‘I had to hear it with my own ears – he did enter a guilty plea. It’s the first time I’ve seen his face in the flesh so it was just really difficult to sit there.
‘I still can’t believe he’s actually pleaded guilty given he’s been trying to avoid conviction altogether.’
Sako smashed through his former colleague’s window at her family home in Mernda, in Melbourne’s northeast, before repeatedly stabbing her with a knife as she lay in bed about 4.10am.
Ms Manno was Sako’s team leader at a Serco call centre before he was fired from the role
He then fled over a fence that was left stained with blood.
Sako handed himself in to local police hours later and was taken to hospital under police guard and treated for a hand injury that required surgery.
At his first court hearing – one of many he refused to attend in person – the court heard Sako had no mental health issues and was not on any medication at the time his 23-year old victim was killed.
Sako had been freed to live in the community at the time of the alleged murder after being charged with breaching a restraining order.
Ms Manno was Sako’s team leader at a Serco call centre in South Morang and comforted him when he left the company a year earlier.
Sako’s family was devastated by his arrest and said they didn’t know much about what he had been doing at the time.
He had been unemployed and living at his parent’s house.
Ms Manno is pictured with her partner, Chris Ridsdale, who had been looking forward to celebrating her birthday the week she was killed
Ms Manno’s brothers Jayden (left), Alesandro, uncle Gabriel and father Tony Manno, with her beloved baby niece Daisy
There was an outpouring of grief over the shocking death of Ms Manno, who was supposed to be celebrating her birthday that week.
Ms Manno’s boyfriend Chris Ridsdale was among many family and friends who mourned the beloved young woman in the days after her death.
‘She was supposed to be having Christmas with our family. Her family. Her mother. Her brothers,’ he said at the time.
Mr Ridsdale revealed her excitement to upload the first photo of them as a couple to her social media profiles.
‘We took this picture on Saturday this week,’ he wrote.
A grief-stricken man is pictured laying flowers outside the home of Ms Manno
Pictured: The crime scene in Mernda where Ms Manno was found dead
‘We talked and joked about how this would be the first picture of us together on her social media and she was so excited to share it with everyone.
‘I was told, very clearly, that this was to be my new profile picture.’
Mr Ridsdale said he rarely uses his social media accounts, but uploaded it on as a special tribute Ms Manno.
‘Now it seems like the best thing I can do for her. To show everyone how much she meant to me and how beautiful she was,’ he said.
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