Celeste Manno went Instagram official with her boyfriend. Hours later, her obsessed work stalker Luay Sako murdered her. Now his ‘red flag’ texts can be revealed – and the kind way she tried to stop him

A young woman made the ordinary decision to make her new relationship ‘Instagram official’ – before a deranged stalker murdered her hours later.

Celeste Manno was stabbed to death 23 times in her own bed by Luay Nader Sako on November 14, 2020, after he became enraged when he saw her holding hands with her boyfriend Chris Ridsdale.

She was just a few days shy of her 24th birthday.

Sako, 37, from Roxburgh Park, appeared in the Supreme Court of Victoria on Monday, representing himself in a pre-sentence hearing.

He pleaded guilty to her murder in April after years of trying to fight the charges.

The court heard Sako had bombarded Celeste with endless messages expressing his love for her in the year before he ended her life.

Sako had briefly worked with Celeste at Serco’s call center in South Morang, where she was a team leader, before he was fired.

Celeste had shown Sako kindness on his last day by walking him to his car and wishing him well before unexpectedly kissing her on the cheek.

Sako killed Celeste at her family home in Mernda, north-east Melbourne, at 4.10am on the night of her death.

He smashed his way into her bedroom with a hammer and attacked her in her bed.

The whole ugly incident lasted just two and a half minutes, with Sako driving straight to a local police station and alerting police to what he had done.

CCTV footage from cameras across the road captured the moment Sako fled the Manno property after committing his cowardly crime.

Sako had already been charged with stalking and harassing Celeste and had an intervention order in place that would protect his victim at the time of the murder.

Both Celeste and her mother had begged Sako to leave her alone in the months and weeks before he struck.

The court heard Sako peppered Celeste with creepy, lewd and threatening messages via Instagram via various accounts, ending with a three-and-a-half page tirade demanding she withdraw her police complaints against him.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t stop thinking about you.” I have never felt this way about anyone in my entire life, it borders on obsessive compulsive disorder. I am completely in love with you, captivated and fascinated by you. You’re all I think about,” he wrote.

‘After I left you, my productivity and my personal life in my new job have been affected. This obsession with you, which is infatuation, is an addictive and destructive feeling that hinders my ability to concentrate, my ability to interact with others and my daily routine.”

Sako begged Celeste to “end his suffering” by being direct with him in her feelings for him.

His terrified victim responded politely to Sako, hoping he would leave her alone.

‘Hello Luay, those are very kind words and I appreciate you saying all that to me. I’m a little surprised to read all this because it’s new to me.

“As much as I appreciate this, I feel nothing but professional towards you and I wish you all the best in your new job and journey,” she wrote.

But the response only seemed to make things worse, with Sako promising to give his life just to be with her.

“I’m so in love with you that it’s become unhealthy now. I know my words won’t help me… I’m sorry I stood up to the strong Celeste. I’m just another rival for your affection,” Sako wrote.

When Celeste begged Sako to stop messaging her, Sako became furious.

“I’m really sorry I made you feel uncomfortable. I actually just wanted to talk to you and honestly thought you were ignoring me,” Sako responded.

‘My impression of you has changed. You are no different than the majority of women. I will remember you and this lesson forever and I will use every ounce of energy I have to rise up and prove to the world that I am someone.

“That is my promise to you and my last contact with you.”

As the messages continued, Celeste’s mother contacted Sako directly and told him they were going to the police to report his harassment.

Although Sako briefly stopped his attack, it was short-lived, with Victoria’s Covid-19 lockdowns seemingly fueling his obsession, the court heard.

Sako was later seen lurking around Celeste’s vehicle outside her workplace while a court issued an interim intervention order against Sako on July 3 that year, the court heard.

The would-be killer refused to accept the order and presented the case for a contested hearing in March of the following year.

Detectives arrested Sako in August and charged him with violating the order before releasing him back into the community.

With Sako on the loose again, Celeste confided to her boss that she believed her days were numbered.

“He’s really going to kill me,” Celeste confided to her colleague.

Hours after making her secret relationship with Mr Ridsdale public, she was said to be dead.

The court heard Sako stabbed Celeste to death in a wild frenzy, leaving defensive wounds on her arms and hands as she fought for her life.

When he was done, he told the police where to find Celeste’s body.

‘She is dead. Go and have a look,’ he said. ‘You know what happened. It is your fault.’

In a further cruel blow to Celeste’s friends and family, Sako disputed the number of times he stabbed his victim.

This action required a forensic expert to provide graphic evidence of how Celeste was murdered.

Sako fired his attorney Tim Marsh after disagreeing with the pathologist’s opinion that Celeste had been stabbed 23 times.

Mr Marsh told Judge Jane Dixon on Monday that he was happy to assist at Sako’s hearing as a ‘friend of the court’ but was no longer acting for the cold-blooded killer.

Sako was originally represented by high-profile criminal defense attorney Sam Norton of Stary Norton Halphen.

Mr Norton was forced to dump Sako after ignoring his advice to plead guilty to the crimes when his intellectual disability defense was deemed no longer viable.

Sako tried to change his guilty plea after hiring Mr Marsh last year.

The road to bringing Sako to justice has been a long one, with the alleged killer appearing in court repeatedly over the years in an attempt to convince forensic doctors that he was insane when he killed his victim.

In March 2022, the court heard while Dr Andrew Carroll – on behalf of Sako – argued that the killer was too mentally unwell to properly manage his lawyers, Dr Clare McInerney – on behalf of the prosecution – believed the prognosis could be cured.

Crown prosecutor Patrick Bourke asked Sako to be assessed again – this time by forensic psychologist Professor James Ogloff.

A plan to put Sako on trial for his intellectual disability was abandoned in February when the court heard that the once conflicting doctors had concluded that Sako did indeed know what he was doing at the time of the murder and was well enough to stand trial to stand.

But even then, Sako tried to delay his May 16 murder trial long enough to convince doctors that he was once again too ill to stand trial.

The court heard Sako insisted on remaining locked away from other prisoners in an isolation unit where he refused to take medication.

Sako had repeatedly threatened to commit suicide if he was removed from his solitary confinement cell, where he spends up to 23 hours a day in lockdown.

Celeste’s friends and family are expected to read their victim impact statements to the court on Monday afternoon.

The hearing continues.