Ex-Domino’s delivery driver, 36, arrives at court charged with murdering Sabina Nessa
Delivery driver appears in court charged with murdering Sabina Nessa: Albanian national, 36, is remanded in custody as lawyer says he will deny murder of the primary school teacher
Sabina Nessa was killed as she walked through Cator Park in Kidbrooke, south-east London, on September 17 Former Domino’s delivery driver Koci Selamaj, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, was arrested on Sunday Lisa Ramsarran, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said they authorised a charge of one count of murder
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A former Domino’s pizza delivery driver will deny murdering primary school teacher Sabina Nessa, a court was told this morning.
Koci Selamaj, 36, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, was remanded in custody today ahead of an appearance at the Old Bailey on Thursday.
Selamaj, who was arrested in the seaside town in the early hours of Sunday, appeared before Willesden Magistrates’ Court after being driven in by prison van this morning.
Ms Nessa was killed as she walked through Cator Park in Kidbrooke, south-east London, on her way to meet a friend on September 17.
Looking straight ahead during the brief hearing, Selamaj, who is understood to have been working as a food delivery driver and is originally from Albania, appeared calm as he stood in the glass dock, wearing a grey prison-issue tracksuit and blue facemask.
Accompanied by two guards, he did not remove his mask. He spoke only to confirm his name, address and date of birth during the hearing, which lasted for about two minutes in front of a packed press bench and public gallery.
An interpreter had been on standby for the the three minute hearing, but the court was told his English was good enough to understand the proceedings.
Prosecutor Umaima Peracha said: ‘The charge against the defendant is that of murder at a park in Kidbrooke. This is an indictable only offence, and I would ask you to send this to the Central Criminal Court (the Old Bailey).’
Selamaj was not asked to formally enter a plea to a single charge of murder, which states: ‘On September 17 2021 at Cator Park, Greenwich, London you murdered Miss Sabina Nessa contrary to common law.’
But asked by District Judge Denis Brennan for an indication of his plea, Selamaj’s lawyer Aidan Harvey, said: ‘I have indicated on the form it will be a not-guilty plea.’
Artists impression of Koci Selamaj appearing at Willesden Magistrates’ Court, this morning. The 36-year-old will deny murdering Sabina Nessa, the court heard
Selamaj was accompanied by two guards, he did not remove his mask, but his lawyer said he would be pleading not guilty
Sabina Nessa, 28, originally from Bedfordshire. Ms Nessa was killed as she walked through Cator Park in Kidbrooke, south-east London, on her way to meet a friend on September 17
Mr Harvey earlier told the court that although an Albanian interpreter was in the building, his client’s English was ‘sufficient for today’s purposes’.
The judge told Selamaj: ‘We will of course have an interpreter booked for you at the Crown Court but today I send you to the Central Criminal Court.
‘Your first hearing there will be, in fact, a bail hearing on September 30 with the plea and trial preparation hearing being on October 26.’
He added: ‘I will remand you in custody until that appearance on September 30 at the Central Criminal Court.’
Selamaj, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, was arrested in the seaside town in the early hours of Sunday and charged on Monday.
A light-coloured Nissan Micra was seized in a leafy residential street about half a mile away.
On Friday, hundreds of people gathered for a candlelit vigil organised in Pegler Square, Kidbrooke, in memory of Ms Nessa.
Koci Selamaj (left), from Eastbourne, East Sussex, was arrested in the seaside town in the early hours of Sunday. Sabina Nessa (right) was killed as she walked through Cator Park in Kidbrooke, south-east London, on her way to meet a friend on September 17
Jebina Yasmin Islam, Ms Nessa’s sister, broke down as she addressed the crowd.
She said: ‘Words cannot describe how we are feeling, this feels like we are stuck in a bad dream and can’t get out of it – our world is shattered, we are simply lost for words.
‘No family should go through what we are going through.’
Until recently Selamaj had been living with his Romanian girlfriend in the flat behind a burger takeaway in the centre of Eastbourne, but the couple recently split up.
A worker in a newsagents near the flat where Selamaj was living said he would come in to the shop to top up his phone or energy key, but would not make conversation.
A police van being driven through the gates of Willesden Magistrates Court ahead of the hearing this morning
The suspect is understood to have been working as a Domino’s delivery driver in Eastbourne and is thought to be originally from eastern Europe
Koci Selamaj, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, was arrested in the seaside town in the early hours of Sunday (pictured: Police in Eastbourne on Sunday)
A light-coloured Nissan Micra was seized in a residential street
‘He was so quiet, he didn’t say anything, just came to top up and left,’ the member of shop staff said.
Ms Nessa taught a year one class at Rushey Green Primary School in Catford, also south-east London.
On Friday, hundreds of people – including her sister – gathered for a candlelit vigil organised in Pegler Square, Kidbrooke, in her memory.
Jebina Yasmin Islam, Ms Nessa’s sister, broke down as she addressed crowds.
She said: ‘Words cannot describe how we are feeling, this feels like we are stuck in a bad dream and can’t get out of it – our world is shattered, we are simply lost for words.
‘No family should go through what we are going through.’
Pictured: Police and forensics believed to be investigating the death of Sabina Nessa are pictured at a flat in Eastbourne
The sister of primary school teacher Sabina Nessa, Jebina Yasmin Islam, is embraced by well-wishers in Cator Park, Kidbrooke
More than 500 well-wishers, including Ms Nessa’s sister Jebina, gathered in Pegler Square for a vigil on Friday
