The sister of murdered teacher Sabina Nessa has told how her killer’s refusal to attend his sentence hearing rocked her family.
Jebina Islam, 31, said cowardly Koci Selamaj even snubbed listening to her impact statement via video link from his cell.
She is backing the Mirror’s call for an urgent change in the law to force killers to face their victims’ families, piling more pressure on dithering Justice Secretary Dominic Rabb to act.
In her first newspaper interview, Jebina revealed she had no idea it was even an option for Selamaj and warned no family should have to endure what theirs did.
She said: “The law needs to be changed as soon as possible because we’re now seeing it quite regularly, when defendants don’t appear for their sentencing. There’s a pattern of behaviour now and it’s just not fair on families. People are not going to get their loved ones back, I won’t get my sister back, but it’s something.
“He killed my sister, he murdered her in such a horrific way and simply thought, ‘I’m going to stay in my cell.’
“It was such a kick in the teeth. I felt such anger at what a coward he was.
“He had an option to listen to my victim impact statement via videolink from his cell and he refused that as well.
“It’s just about power. He needed that power.
“He still had that choice, that freedom of choice, even at that point. In what world is that fair?
“We will never know why he killed my sister and why he did it in such a way. That part will always be there.”
Jebina said it would be “great” if any change in the law could be named after Sabina, who was killed aged 28 by Selamaj in a park at Kidbrooke, South East London, in September 2021.
The 36-year-old Albanian thug battered her 34 times over the head with a metal traffic triangle. Sabina’s body was found the next day. The garage worker, of Eastbourne, East Sussex, travelled to London and lay in wait for his victim at Cator Park.
Selamaj stayed silent when he was interviewed by police initially and remained so throughout the trial last February after admitting murder.
Jebina added: “From his interview when he was first arrested he didn’t say anything and that set the tone for who he is as a person. When he pleaded guilty he did it with a big pause beforehand.
“That pause felt like a lifetime.”
Mr Raab was urged to change the law to make killers appear at their sentencing after Olivia Pratt-Korbel ’s murderer Thomas Cashman refused to leave his prison cell and face the nine-year-old’s family.
Grieving relatives are backed by former Labour Home Secretary Lord Blunkett, who said Mr Raab could get the ball rolling on changing the law immediately.
Campaigners have suggested the Victims and Prisoners Bill, currently being scrutinised by MPs, could be amended to take in the alteration.
Mr Raab plans to change the law but has refused to say when, other than it would be by the next general election, which could be 2025.
Jebina said the Tory needs to say less and act more. She added: “He’s saying all the good words but we need to see action now. No family should go through what my family did and what other families have.”
Paying tribute to Sabina, Jebina said: “We’re just remembering the good times.
There’s obviously that missing chair where she would be sitting, but we’re sticking together as a family and talking about our memories of her. She would want us to be positive. She was a positive, determined, happy person.”
Labour has vowed to give judges the option to force defendants to attend sentencing and suggested punishing no-shows as contempt of court.
