20 Saturday April 9 2022 | the times
News
Police were warned about the killer of
Sabina Nessa three days before her
murder but no officers investigated the
report.
Koci Selamaj, 36, was jailed for life
yesterday with a minimum of 36 years
as a judge said that the predatory,
sexually motivated killing had left
women insecure about travelling alone
at night.
On Friday, September 17, Selamaj
drove 90 minutes from the Sussex coast
to lurk in a southeast London park and
Behind the story
S
abina Nessa
was murdered
at a time of
national outcry
over women’s
safety prompted by
the killing of Sarah
Everard (John
Simpson writes).
The judge who
sentenced Nessa’s
killer made reference
to the issue and the
murder of Everard.
“Sabina Nessa was a
wholly blameless
victim of an absolutely
appalling murder
which was entirely the
fault of the defendant,
which has added to
the sense of
insecurity, particularly
women living in our
cities, when walking
or travelling alone
especially at night,”
Mr Justice Sweeney
said. “She had every
right, as her family
say, to be walking
through the park all
glammed up and
going to enjoy herself
after a long week of
work.”Nessa was one of
three women fatally
targeted by male
strangers on the
streets of London
during lockdown last
year. On March 3,
Everard, 33, was
abducted by PC
Wayne Couzens, 48,
while walking home in
Clapham, south
London. The
Metropolitan Police
officer used his
warrant card to lure
her into his car before
driving her to woods
in Kent and raping
and murdering her.
He pleaded guilty and
is serving a whole-life
sentence.
Like Everard, Nessa
was preyed upon by a
stranger as she walked
near her home after
dark. Again, her
attacker lived outside
London and had
travelled there to find
a woman for a
premeditated sexually
motivated attack.
In May Valentin
Lazar, 21, followedMaria Rawlings, 45,
off a bus in Romford,
east London. He
strangled her and
subjected her to an
attack of extreme
violence with a
wooden stick
embedded with nails
and a knife before
leaving her dead in
undergrowth. He was
not charged with a
sexual offence but the
prosecution suggested
a “sexual motive”
because Rawlings had
bruises on her inner
thighs and was naked.
The manual labourer,
who admitted murder,
was jailed at the Old
Bailey for life with a
minimum term of 23
years and six months.
Detective Chief
Inspector Neil John,
who led the Nessa
investigation, declined
to comment on
whether any of the
attacks could have
been copycat-style
murders after the
Everard case, or on
any link to lockdowns.Sabina Nessa, above
right, relatives and
activists at court and
the murder weapon.
Right: Koci Selamajhad left him after he throt-
tled her, was a housekeeper
there. It can now be disclosed
that three days before the murder,
when he went into the hotel to make the
booking, staff became “uneasy” and
called Sussex police on the 101 non-
emergency number. Had officers at-
tended, they might have learnt from
colleagues of his wife, Ionela, 45, that
Selamaj had throttled and beaten her in
the weeks and months before.
Sussex police consulted the Inde-
pendent Office for Police Conduct but
it was agreed that a referral was not
necessary. The watchdog said that
hotel staff had reported that Selamaj
was “acting strangely” and refused to
pay upfront for his stay. A call handler
completed security checks on Selamaj
and later found the bill had been paid.
On the day of the killing, Selamaj ar-
ranged to meet his wife by his car nearPolice were warned about teacher’s killer
John Simpson Crime Correspondent
Neil Johnston
murder the first lone woman he
chanced upon. He was captured on
CCTV as he ran at Nessa from behind,
wielding a reflective metal traffic trian-
gle from his car, and struck her 34 times
in the head until the weapon fell apart.
He dragged Nessa, who taught a year
one class at Rushey Green Primary
School in nearby Catford, into under-
growth and strangled her, before strip-
ping her half-naked and leaving her
partially obscured by grass and leaves.
The garage worker then returned to
Eastbourne, where he lived, and stayed
in a room he had booked at the five-star
Grand Hotel. His estranged wife, whothe hotel. She said he had appeared
“very agitated” and that she refused to
get into the car with him. She believed
he had wanted to have sex.
Selamaj then drove his Nissan Micra
to Brighton and on to Kidbrooke, south-
east London, where he used his bank
card at a Sainsbury’s to buy a rolling pin,
chilli flakes and an energy drink. He re-
jected the rolling pin as a weapon in fa-
vour of the 2ft-long traffic triangle and
shortly after 8pm entered Cator Park,
where he lay in wait for half an hour
before Nessa passed on the way to a bar,
where she was due to meet a friend.
The teacher, who lived minutes away,
decided to use the cut-through because
she was running late. After killing her
Selamaj removed her tights and under-
wear, which have not been found. The
judge said these had been “trophies”
and that he had no doubt Selamaj
“gained considerable pleasure from
what he did”.
Having been out of shot on
the CCTV camera for 20
minutes, Selamaj re-
turned to where he
began the attack to
pick up pieces of the
traffic triangle and use
wet wipes to clean a
park bench. On the way
back to back to the south
coast he dumped the
weapon in the River Teise in
Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Nessa’s
body was found the next afternoon.
Selamaj was arrested on September
23, after his wife, who has since moved
back to Romania, recognised him on
CCTV stills. Police said that he
appeared to be “calm” upon his arrest.
He initially denied murder but pleaded
guilty in February. He has given no
account of or reason for the murder.
The Albanian-born former delivery
driver, who is now in Broadmoor psy-
chiatric hospital, refused to appear for
his two-day sentencing hearing at the
Old Bailey. Addressing him in his
absence, Nessa’s parents said: “How
could you do such a thing to an inno-
cent girl walking by, minding her own
business? You are not a human being.
You are an animal.”- er
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