The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
‘Predator’ admits murder of teacher
A“predatory” man has pleaded guilty to murdering primary school teacher Sabina Nessa. Koci Selamaj, 36, drove to London from his home in Eastbourne on the south coast to carry out a premeditated attack on a woman with “extreme violence”.
The garage worker lurked around south-east London, before targeting 28-year-old Ms Nessa as she passed through on her way to meet a friend on September 17 last year.
CCTV footage captured the moment Selamaj swiftly overwhelmed Ms Nessa by repeatedly striking her with a 2ft long weapon believed to be a traffic triangle, before carrying her away unconscious.
It is alleged that Selamaj then strangled her in undergrowth in what was suspected to be a sexuallymotivated attack.
The body of Ms Nessa, who taught a year one class at Rushey Green Primary School in Catford, was found nearly 24 hours later covered with grass near a community centre in the park.
Selamaj, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, was arrested in the seaside town and charged over her death days later.
At an Old Bailey hearing yesterday, Selamaj, an Albanian national, pleaded guilty to murder.
At a previous 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.
“The CCTV footage shows the defendant 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.
Ms Nessa was discovered dead the following day covered in grass.
Phone data and traffic cameras captured the defendant returning to Eastbourne, arriving at the £170-a-night Grand Hotel just after midnight.
He stayed the night at the hotel and checked out in the morning.
Selamaj was subsequently traced by police and arrested at his home in Eastbourne on September 26.
Earlier this year, a lawyer for Selamaj confirmed that he accepted being the person caught on CCTV and that he had hit Ms Nessa a number of times.
The murder of Ms Nessa heightened concern for the safety of women and girls in the capital following the murders by strangers of Sarah Everard, and sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman.
Previously, Ms Nessa’s family have said: “No family should ever have to go through this.
“We need our leaders to step up, and we need our communities to step up.
“We need our country to step up and stand with us and say no more violence against women.
“We also hope that everyone remembers Sabina as the joyful, happy, dedicated person that loved teaching and contributing to the community that she loved dearly.”