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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Abigail O'Leary

Dad of Sabina Nessa’s sadistic killer blasts son’s brutal attack on school teacher

The father of Sabina Nessa’s sadistic killer has slammed his son’s actions, asking "How could he?".

Bashkim Selamaj, 73, revealed he is “so sad” for the primary school teacher, 28 - saying the victim "did not deserve this".

Koci Selamaj, 36, last week admitted randomly killing Sabina as she walked alone through a park in Kidbrooke, South East London.

Selamaj drove from his home in Eastbourne with plans to carry out a pre-meditated attack of "extreme violence" on a woman.

Lurking around Cator Park in Kidbrooke, south east London, he pounced on Ms Nessa and battered her to death with a 2ft-long weapon.

Sabina Nessa was brutally killed while on a five-minute walk from her home to meet a friend at a pub (Metropolitan Police/PA Wire)

He then moved her into the undergrowth and made attempts to conceal her body - in what was suspected to be a sexually motivated attack.

His father Bashkim told The Sun: "How could he hit a person he didn’t know at all 34 times? We are shocked to learn that and we still cannot believe our son was involved in such a killing.

"Sabina was a human being and this lady did not deserve this death.

“I have two daughters and I am so sad about all this.”

A friend told the Daily Mail that he Selamaj to strangle his wife three times in the month before Ms Nessa's murder.

A vigil for Sabina Nessa at Eastbourne Pier in East Sussex (PA)

After coming home from work, Selamaj didn't say a word and wrapped his hands around his wife neck, the friend claims.

At the time Ionela - who married Selamaj three years ago - thought she was going to die, she added.

So terrified by the attacks, Ionela decided to leave her partner, but he contacted her again on the day of Ms Nessa's killing.

He asked his wife to meet him in the car park of the Grand Hotel, where she worked as a cleaner, and where he had booked a room.

A few hours after she turned down his sexual advances, Selamaj set off in his Nissan Micra bound for London - where he then killed Ms Nessa.

A photo of Sabina Nessa is seen amongst floral tributes and messages at Cator Park (Getty Images)

After carrying out the attack he returned to the hotel where he stayed for the night.

Police arrested him nine days later at the home he shared with his wife.

At an Old Bailey hearing on Friday, Selamaj, an Albanian national, paused before entering his guilty plea to murder in a whisper.

Mr Justice Sweeney adjourned sentencing until April 7, but Prosecutor Alison Morgan QC suggested 30 years would be an appropriate starting point due to the sexual or sadistic motivation of the murder.

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