An Albanian national has admitted murdering the primary school teacher Sabina Nessa after he hit her with a traffic triangle in a South London park. Koci Selamaj, 36, had travelled to London from Eastbourne to commit the act, and had randomly attacked his victim a few minutes after she had left her home in South East London.
Appearing today at the Old Bailey, Selamaj pleaded guilty to murder after entering a formal not guilty plea to the 28-year-old’s murder in December. It had however been indicated on his behalf that he accepted responsibility for her killing.
Sabina, a Year 1 teacher at Rushey Green Primary School in Catford, had left her flat on September 17 at around 8.30pm, to make her way to meet a friend for a drink. During that short journey to Depot Bar in Pegler Square, she cut through Catford Park and tragically encountered Selamaj.
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Koci Selamaj had travelled from Eastbourne and did not know his victim
(Image: REX/Shutterstock)
The garage worker had lurked around the park throughout the afternoon before targeting Sabina, in what was believed to be a sexually motivated attack. CCTV footage had captured the moment Selamaj had overwhelmed the popular University of Greenwich graduate by striking her with with a 2-ft long weapon believed to be a traffic triangle.
She was discovered covered in leaves near a community centre in the park by a dog walker nearly 24 hours later. Selamaj, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, was arrested in the seaside town following a police investigation, which saw them release images of the suspect on CCTV.
The court heard that the defendant had put his plan into action three days previously by booking a five-star hotel in Eastbourne. He spoke to hotel staff and was captured walking through the lobby wearing the same clothes as the suspect later caught on CCTV in Kidbrooke.
The defendant’s Nissan Micra was tracked by ANPR cameras and cell site evidence was gathered to identify his movements from Eastbourne to south London later that day.
The evidence showed the defendant also used his bank card at Sainsbury’s in Kidbrooke. He was captured in footage wearing “distinctive” trainers with a thick white sole which were later seized from his house and found to have blood traces on them. The defendant entered Cator Park shortly after 8pm and lay in wait for half an hour before Ms Nessa arrived.
Ms Morgan said: “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 towards the deceased and striking her repeatedly using a weapon which was approximately 2ft in length.
“In fact it was a weapon which appeared to break up during the course of the many strikes on the deceased. The CCTV footage shows the defendant then carrying the deceased, who appeared to be unconscious by that point, up a bank and effectively out of sight.”
Selamaj’s actions afterwards were out of camera shot, but Ms Nessa was not seen alive again.
The prosecutor said: “The male did appear after 10 minutes. He is seen to pick up pieces of the weapon that had broken on the ground and then moved back to the area the deceased was located for another 10 minutes.”
Shortly before 9pm, Selamaj was seen using wet wipes to clean a bench. In a police interview, the defendant made no comment except to deny murder when asked directly if he was responsible for killing Ms Nessa.
Earlier this year, a lawyer for the Selamaj confirmed that he accepted being the person caught on CCTV and that he had hit Ms Nessa a number of times.
The tragedy triggered an outpouring of grief and renewed conversations on the issue of violence against women. At a vigil held in September, her sister Jebina Yasmin Islam said: “We have lost an amazing, caring, beautiful sister, who left this world far too early. Words cannot describe how we are feeling, this feels like we are stuck in a bad dream and can’t get out. Our world is shattered, we are simply lost for words.”
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A book of condolence was opened inside the OneSpace centre in Cator Park and a memorial was held on what would have been her 29th birthday in October. Following her funeral at East London Mosque in Whitechapel in November, her family said in a statement to the BBC: “Our loss is immeasurable with the realisation that we will not see our beloved Sabina again.
“Our communities need to be made safer for women, so nothing like this can ever happen again. We need everyone, including the Government, to work together with us on this problem. Actions speak louder than words, and we need to see proactive steps being taken for women’s safety.”
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