A 36-year prison term has been imposed on a man who fatally stabbed a young lady in her own bed with severe intent.
In the wee hours of November 16, 2020, Luay Sako, 39, confessed to killing Celeste Manno in her Mernda residence in Melbourne’s northeast.
When he broke through the window of her bedroom and stabbed her 23 times, she was asleep.
On Thursday afternoon, as Supreme Court Justice Jane Dixon delivered the sentence, Manno’s family members sobbed and shook their heads.
After thirty years, Sako will be eligible for release.
Sako and Manno were briefly coworkers, but after she rejected him romantically, he started harassing and stalking her, the court was informed during last month’s plea hearing.
Sako sent her more than 140 messages from several Instagram profiles over the course of a year, with the messages getting progressively cruder and demeaning.
After going to the police and getting an intervention order against Sako, Manno only stopped communicating with Sako after being accused of breaking the order.
Manno shared a picture of her boyfriend on Instagram for the first time the evening before she passed away.
A few hours later, Sako killed her by breaking into her bedroom when she was asleep.
