Sabina Nessa’s evil killer stabbed prison officer with piece of broken toilet

Sabina Nessa was attacked as she passed through on her way to meet a friend (Picture: PA)

A sexual predator serving life for the murder of primary school teacher Sabina Nessa smashed up his cell toilet and stabbed a prison officer with one of the porcelain shards.

Koci Selamaj, 37, was jailed for at least 36 years in April 2022 for killing Ms Nessa as she walked through Cator Park in Kidbrooke, south-east London.

The garage worker hit the 28-year-old over the head 34 times with a metal traffic triangle before carrying her unconscious body away, removing her underwear and strangling her.

But while serving his sentence at the notorious Frankland Prison – home to some of the UK’s most evil killers including Ian Huntley, Levi Bellfield and Wayne Couzens – he attacked two jailers.

Selamaj admitted wounding one guard with intent to cause really serious harm at Frankland Prison, a maximum security jail near Durham, and assaulting another occasioning actual bodily harm in May 2023.

On Wednesday, Judge Penny Moreland sentenced him to four-and-a-half years in jail and said he should be treated at Broadmoor secure hospital for his mental illness until he is well enough to return to the prison system.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how Selamaj was in his cell when a prison officer asked if he would be leaving for lunch.

The life prisoner let out a scream and began to smash up his toilet before arming himself with a shard of porcelain with which he attacked the guard.

The officer, who was stabbed in the knee and forearm, was assisted by colleagues, one of whom was punched two or three times in the face by Selamaj.

The judge determined the piece of porcelain was sharp enough to be considered like a blade.

In a victim statement, the stabbed officer said that in 10 years as a guard he had never been assaulted and that he had loved his job.

He said: ‘His strength was unbelievable, I feel very lucky as it could have been worse.

‘Selamaj is in prison for murder so I know what he is capable of.’

”Predatory’ garage worker Koci Selamaj pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to murdering the primary school teacher Sabina Nessa (Picture: PA)

Aidan Harvey, defending, said Selamaj used to hear voices and thought ‘the electricity in the wall was talking to him’, and noted that his mental condition had improved since he began being treated at Broadmoor.

Judge Moreland was told Selamaj will be at least 73 years old before he is eligible to apply for parole.

She determined that he will only serve the sentence for attacking the prison officers after the minimum term for murdering Ms Nessa has been completed.

Selamaj watched the proceedings via a videolink from Broadmoor.

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

That court heard how he 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.

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.

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