A young woman made an ordinary decision to make her new relationship ‘Instagram official’ – before a deranged stalker killed her hours later.
Celeste Manno was stabbed 23 times to death in her own bed by Luay Nader Sako on November 14, 2020 after he became enraged upon seeing her hand-in-hand with her boyfriend Chris Ridsdale.
She was just a few days short of her 24th birthday.
Sako, 37, of Roxburgh Park, appeared in the Supreme Court of Victoria on Monday where he is representing himself in a pre-sentence hearing.
He pleaded guilty to her murder in April after trying to contest the charges for years.
Celeste Manno went ‘Insta public’ with her relationship with Chris Ridsdale (pictured) with this post. Hours later, she was killed by Luay Sako
Luay Sako is led into court in July last year
The court heard Sako had bombarded Celeste with endless messages professing his love for her in the year before he ended her life.
Sako had worked with Celeste briefly at Serco’s call centre in South Morang where – she was a team leader – before he was sacked.
Celeste had shown Sako kindness on his final day, walking him to his car and wishing him well before he unexpectedly kissed her on the cheek.
Sako murdered Celeste inside her family home in Mernda, in Melbourne’s northeast, at 4.10am on the night of her death.
He smashed his way into her bedroom with a hammer and attacked her in her bed.
The whole ugly incident took just two-and-a-half minutes, with Sako driving directly to a local police station and alerting police to what he had done.
CCTV footage captured from cameras across the road showed the moment Sako fled the Manno property after committing his cowardly crime.
Sako had already been charged for stalking and harassing Celeste and had been subject to a intervention order supposedly protecting his victim at the time of her murder.
Both Celeste and her mother had pleaded with Sako for him to leave her alone in the months and weeks before he struck.
The court heard Sako peppered Celeste with creepy, lewd and menacing messages via Instagram through various accounts, concluding with a three-and-a-half-page rant in which he demanded she withdraw her police complaints against him.
Sako’s deranged messages to Celeste Manno
‘I’m sorry but I can’t stop thinking about you. I have never felt like this about anybody in my entire life, it’s bordering along a OCD. I’m totally infatuated with you, captivated and fascinated by you. You’re all I think about,’ he wrote.
‘After leaving you my productivity and my personal life in my new job has been impacted. This obsession with you, which is a crush, is an addictive and destructive feeling that is interfering with my ability to concentrate, deal with others and go about my daily routine.’
Sako begged Celeste ‘put an end to his suffering’ by being direct with him in her feelings towards him.
His terrified victim politely responded to Sako in the hope he would leave her alone.
‘Hi Luay, those are really sweet words and I appreciate you saying all of that to me. I’m a bit surprised to read this all as it is new to me.
‘As much as I appreciate this, I only feel in a professional way towards you and I wish you all of the best in your new job and journey,’ she wrote.
But the response only seemed to make things worse, with Sako pledging to give his life just to be with her.
‘I’m so infatuated with you that it’s now become unhealthy. I know my words don’t help me … I’m sorry for coming on strong Celeste. I’m just another rival for your affection,’ Sako wrote.
When Celeste pleaded with Sako to stop messaging her, Sako became enraged.
‘I’m truly sorry for making you feel uncomfortable. I really just wanted to speak with you and I honestly thought you were ignoring me,’ Sako responded.
‘My impression of you has changed. You’re no different to the majority of women. I’ll remember you and this lesson for all life and I will devote every ounce of energy I have to climbing up and proving to the world that I’m somebody.
‘That is my promise to you and my final contact with you.’
Celeste Manno had been in the prime of life when she was stabbed to death in her own bed
Sako bombarded Celeste with messages
Celeste tried to be polite to her stalker
As the messages continued, Celeste’s mother contacted Sako directly telling him they were going to the police to report his harassment.
While Sako stopped his onslaught briefly, it was short lived, with Victoria’s Covid-19 lockdowns seemingly fueling his obsession, the court heard.
Sako was later seen lurking around Celeste’s vehicle outside her workplace, with a court issuing an interim intervention order against Sako on July 3 that year, the court heard.
The soon-to-be killer refused to accept the order, listing the matter for a contested hearing in March the following year.
Detectives arrested Sako in August, charging him with breaches of the order before releasing him back into the community.
With Sako back on the loose, Celeste confided in her boss that she believed her days were numbered.
‘He’s really going to kill me,’ Celeste confided in her colleague.
Hours after going public with her secret relationship to Mr Ridsdale she would be dead.
The court heard Sako stabbed Celeste to death in a wild frenzy, with defensive wounds found on her arms and hands as she fought for her life.
When he was done he told cops where they could find Celeste’s body.
‘She’s dead. Go have a look,’ he said. ‘You know what happened. It’s your fault.’
Sako, 37, attended a local police station hours after Celeste’s death and was taken to hospital under police guard, and was charged with murder
The home where Celeste Manno was murdered in her bed
In a further cruel blow to the friends and family of Celeste, Sako contested the number of times he stabbed his victim.
The move required a forensic expert to give graphic evidence of the way Celeste was killed.
Sako sacked his barrister Tim Marsh after taking issue with the pathologist’s opinion that Celeste had been stabbed 23 times.
Mr Marsh told Justice Jane Dixon on Monday he was happy to assist in Sako’s plea hearing as a ‘friend of the court’ but was no longer acting for the cold-blooded killer.
Sako had originally been represented by high profile criminal barrister Sam Norton, of Stary Norton Halphen.
Mr Norton was forced to dump Sako after he ignored his advice to plead guilty to the crimes when his mental impairment defence was deemed no longer viable.
Sako attempted to change his guilty plea after employing Mr Marsh last year.
The road to bring Sako to justice has been long, with the alleged killer appearing in court repeatedly over the years in an effort to convince forensic doctors he had been insane when he killed his victim.
In March 2022, the court heard while Dr Andrew Carroll – on behalf of Sako – argued the killer was too mentally unwell to properly direct his lawyers, Dr Clare McInerney – for the prosecution – believed that prognosis could be cured.
Crown prosecutor Patrick Bourke asked Sako be assessed yet again – this time by forensic psychologist Professor James Ogloff.
A plan to put Sako to trial over his mental impairment was abandoned in February when the court heard the once conflicted doctors had come to the conclusion that Sako indeed knew what he was doing at the time of the murder and was well enough to stand trial.
Ms Manno was Sako’s team leader at a Serco call centre before he was fired from the role
Heartbroken mum Aggie Di Mauro pictured with her beloved daughter
But even then, Sako sought to delay his May 16 murder trial long enough to convince doctors he was again too sick to stand trial.
The court heard Sako insisted on remaining locked away from other inmates in an isolation unit where he refused to take medications.
Sako had repeatedly threatened suicide if he were to be moved out of his isolation cell, where he spends up to 23-hours a day in lockdown.
Celeste’s friends and family are expected to read their victim impact statements to the court on Monday afternoon.
The hearing continues.