Celeste Manno killer sentenced to 36 years jail over stabbing murder

A man who viciously stabbed a young woman to death in her own bed has been sentenced to 36 years in jail.

Luay Sako, 39, admitted to murdering Celeste Manno at her Mernda home in Melbourne's north east in the early hours of November 16, 2020.

She had been asleep when he smashed through her bedroom window and stabbed her 23 times.

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Manno's family shook their heads and cried as Supreme Court Justice Jane Dixon handed down the sentence on Thursday afternoon.

Sako will be eligible for parole after 30 years.

During last month's plea hearing, the court was told Manno and Sako were briefly co-workers but he began harassing and stalking her after she turned him down romantically.

Over a 12-month period, Sako sent her more than 140 messages from a number of different Instagram accounts, with the communication becoming increasingly vulgar and degrading.

Manno went to police and obtained an intervention order against Sako, but the contact only ceased after he was charged with breaching the order.

On the night before her death, Manno posted a photo of her boyfriend for the first time on Instagram.

A few hours later, Sako broke into her bedroom while she was sleeping and killed her.