A short walk through Cator Park
On the evening of September 17, 2021, Sabina Nessa left her home in Kidbrooke to meet a friend. Her route took her through Cator Park. She never arrived.
Her body was discovered the following day near a community centre in the park. Police began a major murder investigation using CCTV, witness enquiries and forensic evidence to reconstruct her movements and identify the man who had travelled into London before the attack.
The investigation identifies Koci Selamaj
Investigators traced Koci Selamaj, a garage worker living in Eastbourne, to the area. He was arrested and charged with murder. The prosecution said the attack had been planned in the sense that Selamaj had gone out intending to attack a lone woman, although Sabina herself had not been personally selected in advance.
At an earlier hearing in December 2021, Selamaj formally pleaded not guilty while accepting responsibility for Sabina’s death. That procedural position changed before trial: on February 25, 2022, at the Old Bailey, he pleaded guilty to murder.
Motive and judicial findings
The prosecution submitted that the murder involved sexual or sadistic conduct and argued for a 30-year statutory starting point when the court calculated the minimum term. In his sentencing remarks, Mr Justice Sweeney recorded that Selamaj accepted that the murder was sexually motivated and did not require further evidence on that point.
That is the basis on which this page describes the sentencing finding. Selamaj did not provide the court with a broader personal explanation for why he murdered Sabina. The absence of such an explanation is not filled here with an invented motive.
Life imprisonment and a 36-year minimum
On April 8, 2022, Mr Justice Sweeney sentenced Selamaj to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 36 years before he can be considered for release by the Parole Board. The judge emphasized that a minimum term is not a release date; release after that point is possible only if the Parole Board considers it safe, and Selamaj may never be released.
Selamaj refused to attend the sentencing hearing in person or by video link. The judge sentenced him in his absence, noting that the refusal was voluntary and that the law did not permit the court to force his attendance.
A case that intensified concern about women’s safety
Sabina’s murder occurred six months after the murder of Sarah Everard and became part of a wider public debate about women’s safety in public spaces. The sentencing judge referred to the broader sense of insecurity experienced particularly by women walking alone at night, while stressing that Sabina had every right to use the park and that responsibility rested entirely with the offender.
Her family described her as a much-loved daughter, sister and aunt and an admired primary school teacher. This case file centers the legal record without allowing the offender’s actions to eclipse her life or reduce the case to sensational detail.
Timeline
September 17, 2021: Sabina Nessa leaves home to meet a friend and is murdered in Cator Park, Kidbrooke.
September 18, 2021: her body is discovered and a murder investigation begins.
September 2021: Koci Selamaj is arrested and charged with murder.
December 16, 2021: Selamaj enters a not-guilty plea while accepting responsibility for Sabina’s death.
February 25, 2022: at the start of his trial process, Selamaj changes his plea to guilty to murder.
April 8, 2022: he receives life imprisonment with a minimum term of 36 years.
Current status
The case is solved / adjudicated. Koci Selamaj pleaded guilty to murder and is serving a life sentence. The legal findings are clear; the court did not receive a fuller personal explanation from him beyond the admissions relevant to the prosecution’s case and sentencing.