Sabina Nessa Greenwich murderer admits prison attack

Garage worker Koci Selamaj, 36, is serving a life sentence for murdering 28-year-old Ms Nessa as she walked through Cator Park in September 2021. 

On Thursday (April 11) Selamaj appeared at Newcastle Crown Court where he admitted wounding one person with intent and assaulting another, causing actual bodily harm, court officials confirmed. 

The offences relate to an incident at Frankland Prison in County Durham where Selamaj was being held on May 8 last year. 

Selamaj will be sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court on June 14. 

He previously caused widespread outrage when he refused to come to court when he was sentenced at the Old Bailey for Ms Nessa’s murder.   

Selamaj travelled to London from the south coast to carry out the premeditated attack on a random woman on September 17, 2021. 

He targeted Ms Nessa as she walked through the park to meet a friend. 

CCTV footage captured the moment Selamaj ran up behind her and hit her over the head 34 times with a 2ft-long metal traffic triangle. 

He carried her unconscious body up a grassy bank and out of view. 

He then pulled up her clothes, removed her tights and underwear, and strangled her before covering her body in grass. 

Ms Nessa, who taught a year one class at Rushey Green Primary School in Catford, was found nearly 24 hours later near a community centre in the park. 

Sabina Nessa was murdered while walking through a park in Kidbrooke on her way to the pub (Image: Met Police)Days later, Selamaj, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, was arrested in the seaside town and pleaded guilty to murder. 

Mr Justice Sweeney said at the sentencing hearing that it was a “savage” sexually motivated attack. 

He said Ms Nessa was the “wholly blameless victim of an absolutely appalling murder which was entirely the fault of the defendant”. 

Her death added to “the sense of insecurity” particularly felt by women walking through the city at night, he added.