BREAKING: Man Pleads Guilty To Murdering Sabina Nessa

Warning: The following article includes distressing content.

The man accused of murdering Sabina Nessa, Koci Selamaj has pleaded guilty at The Old Bailey Central Criminal Court today.

The 36-year-old garage worker spoke in court today for his second plea hearing since he was first arrested on 26th September.

Selamaj was accused of carrying out a 'pre-meditated and predatory' attack on 28-year-old Sabina, after travelling to London from his home in Eastbourne in September 2021.

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Primary school teacher Sabina Nessa had been walking through Cator Park in Kidbrooke, south east London to meet a friend at a pub in Kidbrooke on 17th September.

On what should have been a five minute walk, Sabina Nessa was fatally attacked, and her body was discovered almost 24 hours later near a community centre in the park.

In December 2021, Selamaj had his first plea hearing, in which he pleaded not guilty, despite accepting responsibility for killing Ms Nessa.

At the earlier hearing, Alison Morgan QC said: “The prosecution allege this was a premediated and predatory attack on a stranger.”

Ms Morgan said the attack was carried out with “extreme violence”.

The defendant had no previous convictions and was not known to his victim.

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Three days before the attack, Selamaj had booked a room at the five-star Grand Hotel in Eastbourne, the town where he already had accommodation, for the night of September 17.

Hotel footage captured the defendant speaking to staff in the lobby and wearing the same same clothes as the suspect later caught on CCTV in Kidbrooke.

Selemaj'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.

Following Ms Nessa's tragic passing, hundreds gathered together for a candlelit vigil in Pegler Square, Kidbrooke, in her memory.

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Speaking at the vigil, Jebina Yasmin Islam, Ms Nessa’s sister, said: "Words cannot describe how we are feeling, this feels like we are stuck in a bad dream and can’t get out of it – our world is shattered, we are simply lost for words.

“No family should go through what we are going through.”

Topics: News

Ali Condon

Ali is a journalist for LADbible Group, writing on all things film, music, and entertainment across Tyla, LADbible and UNILAD. You can contact Ali at [email protected].

@alicondon