Koci Selamaj has been jailed for life at the Old Bailey with a minimum term of 36 years for the murder of the primary school teacher Sabina Nessa.
Sentencing Selamaj, 36, Mr Justice Sweeney said Nessa was the “wholly blameless victim of an absolutely appalling murder which was entirely the fault of the defendant”.
Her death added to “the sense of insecurity” particularly felt by women walking through the city at night.
“She had every right, as her family said, to be walking through the park all glammed up and out to enjoy herself after a long week at work,” Sweeney said. “The defendant robbed her and them of her life.”
The judge noted Selamaj’s guilty plea and lack of previous convictions. But he added: “It is a striking feature of the defendant’s case that, clearly deliberately, it is not suggested by him that he had any remorse for what he did to Sabina Nessa.”
The judge said it was “cowardly” of Selamaj to refuse to attend his sentencing but that he had no power to force him.
Before the sentencing, Nessa was described as a kind, funny and innocent animal lover. On Thursday – day one of the two-day sentencing hearing – her parents, Abdur Rouf and Azibun Nessa, said: “You would never have thought that your child would die before you, not in a way our Sabina died.”
Addressing Selamaj in a statement read to the court by the prosecutor, they said: “You had no right to take her away from us in such a cruel way. The moment the police officer came to our house and told us she was found dead our world shattered into pieces.
“How could you do such a thing to an innocent girl walking by, minding her own business? You are not a human being, you are an animal.”
Nessa’s sister Jabina Islam called Selamaj a “coward” after he refused to come to court on Thursday.
She called her sister an “amazing role model” who was “powerful, fearless, bright and just an amazing soul” who deserved to be safe as she walked through the park on the night she died.
Nessa’s body was found in Cator Park, in the Kidbrooke area of south-east London, on 18 September last year. The body of the year 1 teacher at Rushey Green primary school in Catford was found covered with leaves near a community centre in the park.
She was killed while on her way to meet a friend in a bar the night before. The court heard Selamaj, who has a history of domestic violence, drove to London from Eastbourne, East Sussex, to carry out the killing.
After the sentencing, DCI Neil John of the Metropolitan police described Selamaj as an “evil coward”. He said: “It is highly unusual for someone to go from zero to a crime of this magnitude. We are pleased Selamaj will spend the majority of his life in prison.”
The prosecutor, Alison Morgan QC, said the attack was “premeditated, not in the sense that he targeted Sabina Nessa but because it targeted any lone female”.
Having happened upon Nessa as she walked home, the garage worker severely beat her, before killing her by asphyxiation and making a cursory attempt to conceal her body, the court heard. Morgan said: “This was a murder involving sexual or sadistic conduct.”
While an earlier hearing was told a pathology report had uncovered no positive evidence of a sexual assault, the prosecution said other physical evidence – none of which was disputed by the defendant – demonstrated a “sexual motivation that must have existed”.
Morgan said that, before travelling to London to carry out his attack, Selamaj met his former spouse and tried unsuccessfully to get her to have sex with him in his car. He also checked into a room at an Eastbourne hotel, near his home, in which his former wife worked, behaviour the prosecutor suggested was “indicative of his premeditation to have some kind of sexual encounter that evening”.
It has also emerged that police were called hours before the killing when Selamaj got into a dispute with staff about payment for the room. However, Sussex police said the matter was resolved and police were not required to attend.
In the absence of any explanation from Selamaj, the prosecution invited the court to conclude his motivation had been sexual during the first day of sentencing. Questioned by the judge, Selamaj’s lawyer, Lewis Power QC, said his client offered no challenge to the prosecution’s case.
Asked if the defendant would explain why he had carried out the murder, he said he could not help the court, adding that Selamaj simply accepted he had done it and noted that his client had given him no instruction to express any remorse.
Selamaj initially accepted responsibility for Nessa’s death, but pleaded not guilty to murder at a pre-trial hearing on 16 December. But he changed that plea to guilty on 25 February, as his trial was due to begin at the Old Bailey.
