Man accused of 'predatory' murder of Sabina Nessa used 'extreme violence,' court hears
30 September 2021, 10:47 | Updated: 30 September 2021, 10:53
A man has been accused of using "extreme violence" in a "premeditated and predatory" murder of Sabina Nessa.
The court heard that an attacker used a 2ft long weapon to strike the school teacher repeatedly before carrying her away unconscious.
Prosecutor Alison Morgan QC said this was a "premeditated and predatory" stranger attack and there was no suggestion the defendant knew Ms Nessa.
A post-mortem has not yet concluded the exact cause of her death, but the attack was said to have involved "extreme violence".
Delivery driver Koci Selamaj, 36, appeared at the Old Bailey in a prison-issue green and yellow top by video link from Wormwood Scrubs.
He is charged with the murder of the 28-year-old in Kidbrooke, south-east London, on September 17.
His lawyer has previously indicated his client will enter a not guilty plea.
Judge Lucraft set a plea hearing for December 16 and remanded the defendant into custody.
Ms Nessa was killed as she walked through Cator Park in Kidbrooke, southeast London, on her way to meet a friend at a pub near her home.
Her body was found nearly 24 hours later covered with leaves near a community centre in the park.
She taught a year one class at Rushey Green Primary School in Catford, also south-east London.
Last 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."
