Sister slams sadist who stole teacher’s life

An Albanian garage worker who beat primary school teacher Sabina Nessa to death is facing at least 30 years in jail for the ‘sadistic and sexually motivated’ murder.

Koci Selamaj, 36, targeted Ms Nessa, 28, as she walked through Cator Park in Kidbrooke, southeast London, on her way to meet a friend on 17 September last year.

He beat her to death with a steel traffic sign he grabbed from the roadside, the Old Bailey heard.

Ms Nessa’s body was found covered in leaves, nearly 24 hours later, near a community centre in the park.

Selamaj, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, was arrested in the early hours of Sunday 26 and admitted murdering Ms Nessa.

He had booked a hotel stay in Eastbourne on the night of the murder even though he lived nearby and had used wet wipes to try and erase any traces of his DNA at the scene.

Members of Ms Nessa’s family appeared in the well of the court to hear Selamaj’s guilty plea.

Selamaj lived in Eastbourne but booked a stay at the town’s Grand Hotel on the night after he killed Ms Nessa.

Alison Morgan, QC, prosecuting, said the starting point for the ‘sadistic and sexually motivated’ was a life term with a minimum of 30 years imprisonment.

She said the attack ‘involved a significant’ degree of planning and he attempted to conceal Ms Nessa’s body.

Earlier she told the court: ‘Sabina Nessa was murdered on 17 September this year.

‘The defendant is 36 years old.

‘He is an Albanian national.

‘There is nothing to suggest the deceased and the defendant were known to each other.

‘On the evening of 17 September, Sabina Nessa made plans to meet a friend at a bar called The Depot in Kidbrooke Village.

‘In order to get to that location she took a route through Cator Park in Kidbrooke Village.

‘She was attacked and killed in Cator Park.

‘Indeed, the prosecution alleges this was a premeditated and predatory attack on a stranger.’

Ms Morgan said at the time of the killing Selamaj was living at an address in Eastbourne.

‘He has legal status in this country and he was working at a garage in the Eastbourne area.’

Ms Nessa taught a year one class at Rushey Green Primary School in Catford.

Ms Morgan said the evidence suggested Ms Nessa was beaten repeatedly over the head with an object, possibly a lump of wood.

After the attack Selamaj was caught on CCTV leaving the park and returning to the Grand Hotel.

She said: ‘In short, after the footage of the male leaving the park, just shortly before nine o’clock, there is then both telephone and ANPR and CCTV captures to chart the male going back to his vehicle, the Nissan Micra, and charting the vehicle and the telephone moving back to the Eastbourne area.

‘The defendant is seen arriving back at the Grand Hotel just after midnight, staying overnight and then leaving the next morning.’

Selamaj was arrested at his home in Eastbourne on 25 September, eight days after the attack.

Items of clothing worn in the CCTV footage, were recovered during a search of his home.

He was interviewed by police but answered ‘no comment’ to all questions except to deny murder when he was asked if he’d been responsible for killing Nessa.

Ms Morgan added: ‘By way of background, on 14 September, three days earlier, the defendant made a reservation to stay a night at the Grand Hotel in Eastbourne.

‘So, although he had his own accommodation in Eastbourne, he made a reservation at the hotel for the night of 17 September and he arrived there on that date, in the middle of the day, in order to check in to the hotel.

‘His exchanges with hotel staff on that day have been covered in witness statements but perhaps of greater significance was the capture of his appearance as he walked through the hotel lobby.

‘In short, the clothing that he was seen wearing on that footage marries up with footage shown to be worn by the male in the Kidbrooke Village area later that day.

‘A telephone number ending with the digits 333 has been attributed to the defendant, not least because the device was seized from him at the time of his arrest along with a vehicle attributed to him – a Nissan Micra vehicle registered to his name.

‘The evidence relating to the telephone and also to the movement of the vehicle as captured by ANPR show both to move from five o’clock onwards from the Eastbourne area to the area of Kidbrooke Village.

‘Shortly after seven o’clock, the defendant’s mobile telephone was using masts in the area of southeast London.

‘The evidence that shows that it was the defendant that arrived into that area is supported by evidence of a transaction made in Kidbrooke Village in a Sainsbury’s local which was made using the defendant’s bank account where he purchased items.

‘The footage from the time of that purchase gives a clear identification of the male.

‘The male in particular wearing distinctive trainers with a thick white sole.

‘Trainers of this kind would later be recovered from the defendant’s home address and would be found to have traces of blood on them.

‘Examinations as to the source of that blood continue but there have been positive results on the fact that it is blood on those trainers.

‘CCTV captures then chart the movement of the male, alleged to be the defendant, from that shop to the location of the attack in Cator Park.

‘The defendant can be shown entering the park shortly after eight o’clock and then waiting in the park for approximately half an hour before it was that Miss Nessa came from her home address through her route which took her through the park.

‘The defendant is seen in effect loitering in locations around the park before spotting the deceased, checking to see if anyone else was nearby before turning and running after her.

‘He is then seen to move toward the deceased and striking her repeatedly using a weapon which was approximately two feet in length, as captured on CCTV footage.

‘In fact it was a weapon which appeared to break up during the course of the many strikes on the defendant.

‘The CCTV footage shows the defendant, the male, then carrying the deceased, who appeared to have been unconscious by that point, up a grass bank and effectively out of sight into darkness on the footage.

‘It follows that what happened thereafter is not captured on the CTV but what is known is that the deceased did not appear from that location again.

‘The male did appear after ten minutes. He was seen to pick up pieces of the weapon that had broken onto the ground, then move back to the area where the deceased’s body must have been located for a further ten minutes.

‘Shortly before nine o’clock, the same male was seen using wet wipes to wipe down the bench and then the male was last seen at 20:56 hours.’

Nessa’s body was found the following day, partially covered with grass.

Mr Justice Sweeney adjourned sentence until April 7.

Wearing a grey jumper and sporting unkept hair, Selamaj paused for several seconds before admitted murdering Ms Nessa.

Selamaj, who was married at the time of the attack on Ms Nessa, had been repeatedly violent towards his own partner, including putting his hands around her neck.

Two hours before he attacked Ms Nessa, Selamaj had sough to contract his former partner to pressure her to engage in sexual activity.

‘The prosecution will submit this was a premeditated attack,’ said Ms Morgan.

‘Premeditated not in the sense that it targeted Sabina Nessa, but it targeted any lone female who would have been vulnerable to the attack on the location.

‘Sabina Nessa walked through the park approximate to her home address on the way to meet a friend when she would encountered this defendant loitering in Cator Park.

‘As to the circumstances then of the attack, by the time he was in Cator Park the defendant had armed himself with an emergency triangle.’

The court heard he had bought a rolling pin with him, but he left it in the park and used a triangular traffic sign to murder the teacher.

CCTV footage showed him chasing Ms Nessa and inflicting 34 ‘severe blows’ to her head, rendering her unconscious.

He then moved her unconscious body out of the camera’s view into some long grass.

‘We understand it to be accepted in that area, Ms Nessa was likely unconscious, an act of asphyxiation occurred.

‘The defendant removed Ms Nessa’s tights and underwear and lifted her clothes so that the mid and upper parts of her body were exposed.’

The prosecutor said an examination of her body showed no positive signs of sexual assault but that it couldn’t be excluded.

‘The circumstances in which Ms Nessa’s body was found demonstrate the sexual motivation that must have existed,’ she added.

Describing the murdered primary school teacher, Ms Morgan said: ‘She was a much loved daughter, sister and aunt.

‘The death has been catastrophic for her family.

‘They will be providing the court with evidence on the impact of her loss on her family and as to her life and prospects.

‘She was attacked by a stranger as she went about her business in the evening of 17 September 2021.’

After the brutal murder, Selamaj drove back to Eastbourne, stopping in the Tunbridge Wells area to drop the murder weapon into the Teis river.

Fighting back tears outside of court, Ms Nessa’s sister Jebina Yasmin Islam said: ‘Today has been a difficult day to digest.

‘The outcome today is that he said he murdered my sister. That is a step in the right direction in getting justice for Sabina.

‘However, this does not bring her back.

‘We as a family are broken and miss her dearly and there is not a day that goes by we do not think of her.

‘There are no words to describe the pain that we are going through as a family which he has caused.

‘It breaks our heart that we won’t see her again.

‘The fact that we will never know the motive on why he killed my sister is not only frustrating but also heartbreaking.

‘No family should go through what we are going through, and each day is not getting any easier.

‘I would like to thank each and everyone that has supported us and been there for us since the death of my sister. Thank you.’