MUM’S HEARTBREAK: ‘CELESTE WILL NEVER LIVE HER DREAMS’
AGGIE DI MAURO’S DAUGHTER WAS MURDERED IN HER OWN HOME
Celeste Manno lived by the motto you should never go to sleep on an argument. “Imagine anything ever happening in the middle of the night and one of us not waking up,” she would often tell her mother, Aggie, before she kissed her goodnight at their home in Mernda, Vic.
Heartbroken Aggie is still living this nightmare on the one-year anniversary of her beloved daughter’s murder.
Aggie had tucked Celeste into bed, as she did every night, on November 15 last year. Celeste was excited about her 24th birthday celebrations with her friends and family in the days to come, and introducing her boyfriend, Chris Ridsdale, to her father, Tony.
What happened next is unimaginable. Aggie awoke in the early hours to the sound of a window smashing. She thought she was having a “terrible nightmare”.
Tragically, someone smashed through Celeste’s bedroom window while she was sleeping and stabbed her to death. Former colleague Luay Nader Sako, 36, was charged with murder, but pleaded not guilty and will face the Supreme Court.
“Celeste left the bedroom door open that night, because it was a warm night,” Aggie says. “And the last thing I expected hours later was waking up to what
I heard. We thought we were safe at home, but clearly we were not. The state
I found her in, I’ll never erase.”
Celeste had studied criminology and psychology in the quest to learn more about human behaviour so she could help those who needed it most.
She was described as a natural leader and mentor in her role at a call centre, as well
as a dedicated Collingwood football fan and a very loyal friend with an active social life.
Her father Tony, who says his daughter “lit up the world” for everyone around her, hadn’t seen Celeste for eight months due to COVID-19, but he took his “little princess” out for one last breakfast before her death.
“I was lucky to have that breakfast,” he recalls. “It took a while to break up that hug.”
Tony says his daughter was excited about her new relationship and she couldn’t wait to introduce Chris to her father, who loved her so much.
Chris posted a heartfelt tribute to Celeste on Facebook after her death, with a picture of the two of them smiling taken just two days before she was murdered.
He proudly spoke about a birthday card she had given him two months earlier, which described how grateful she was to have him in her life and how much she had planned for their future.
“It breaks my heart knowing that I won’t get the chance to fulfil those plans she was so excited for,” he wrote. “To say she was beautiful was an understatement. It was so much more than the way she looked. Celeste was graceful, elegant, charismatic, passionate and old-fashioned.”
Celeste’s murder shattered the wider Mernda community and more than 100 loved ones farewelled her in an emotional celebration of her life just days short of her 24th birthday.
Her brothers Jayden and
Alessandro spoke about the devastation her death had wrought, saying the grief her loved ones carried was immeasurable.
“How can one summarise such a brightly burning light of life in such a short speech and final goodbye?” said Jayden.
Aggie told mourners her daughter would have been shocked to see the outpouring of love that had flowed since her death.
“I’m never going to be able to plan your wedding day,” she said, as she stood by Celeste’s white casket adorned with pink and white lilies. “You’re never going to live your dreams.”