Victoria’s top prosecutor will not appeal the sentence for Luay Sako, a move that has devastated the family of his murder victim Celeste Manno.
It’s understood the Office of Public Prosecutions refused to appeal the decision yesterday.
Manno was stabbed 23 times by Sako after he used a hammer to smash his way into her Mernda home while she slept in the early hours of November 16, 2020.
Mannos’s mother Aggie Di Mauro told 9News the state had failed her daughter.
“I’m disgusted,” she said.
“The state failed her then (for) not keeping her protected then. And now the courts decided to fail her all over again.
“According to them, she did not deserve to get her justice through a life sentence for him.”
Manno and Sako had briefly worked together at a call centre but he began harassing and stalking her after she turned him down romantically.
Despite Manno taking out an intervention order, Lako sent 140 messages from various Instagram accounts over a 12-month period, professing his love for her.
Last month, Manno’s family shook their heads and cried as Supreme Court Justice Jane Dixon sentenced Sako to a maximum of 36 years behind bars.
He will be eligible for parole in 2054, when he will be age 69.
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