Simone Fox Koob- The Age
The state government has ordered an urgent review of stalking and harassment laws and the enforcement of intervention orders in the wake of the death of Celeste Manno.
On Wednesday, the 23-year-old’s mother Aggie Di Mauro met with Attorney-General Jill Hennessy to call for change, as Ms Manno’s father Tony Manno added his voice to calls for stalking victims to be better protected.
Celeste Manno’s heartbroken friends, family and colleagues today said their final goodbyes at her funeral.
Ms Manno was sleeping at the Mernda home she shared with her mother and brother on November 17 when her alleged killer smashed through her bedroom window and stabbed her.
Her former work colleague Luay Sako, 35, has been charged with murder. Mr Sako had allegedly been stalking Ms Manno in the year prior to her death.
On Wednesday afternoon, Ms Hennessy said Ms Manno’s death had been an “unimaginable tragedy”
“I cannot begin to understand the pain her family and friends are feeling,” she said. “We know that stalking can cause great harm to victims’ mental and physical health and can escalate to more serious offending, including serious violence, and that types of stalking behaviour have evolved as technology changes.
“That’s why I will ask the Victorian Law Reform Commission to urgently review Victoria’s responses to stalking, harassment and similar conduct, including the framework for, operation and enforcement of the Personal Safety Intervention Order system.
“We will continue to do everything we can to end violence against women and support them to be and feel safe.”
On the steps of Parliament House on Wednesday, Ms Di Mauro said that the first time she had gone with Celeste to the police about their concerns more than a year ago, they were told no action could be taken.
“It’s not that it wasn’t taken seriously, it was more like, ‘OK, there’s no criminal offence. He’s not threatening your life. Maybe just stop using social media’. Which Celeste was never going to accept. She was never going to accept that someone was going to dictate how she lived her life,” she said.
“The second time [we went to police], that constable took it very seriously because the message he read was appalling, disgusting.”
An interim intervention order was put in place, however there was an alleged breach several months later. Mr Sako was arrested, charged and released on summons, Ms Di Mauro said.
“When that breach happened we did wonder, ‘Should we still have this in place?’ And the instructions to us were ‘very much so’, because they wouldn’t be able to protect her otherwise.
“And of course, our only concern was there’s a real concern of retaliation now. And that’s exactly what happened.”
On Wednesday, Celeste’s father Tony said he remained angry, grieving and in shock. He said he has received a flood of messages from an “army of relatives” across the world who were feeling the family’s pain.
“Everyone goes ‘How does this happen?’ She was home in her bed. This was not right, this doesn’t happen, this can’t happen, it shouldn’t have happened,” he said.
“She did everything right and had gone to police and I’m sure police did everything in their powers but obviously the system let my daughter down. Let me down, her mother down and her entire family and friends and co-workers, colleagues, everybody.”
Mr Manno said that his daughter had told him about the alleged stalking, saying that the man was opening and closing different accounts in different names making it difficult to block him.
“She was getting all these annoying texts so she was doing the right thing and speaking to her Mum and going to police. She reported it over and over again.”
Mr Manno was unable to see his daughter during Victoria’s strict lockdown, and was finally able to catch up with her for breakfast when restrictions lifted. It was last time he saw her.
“Nothing was mentioned [about the alleged stalking], it was as if it was all over,” he said. “She was telling me about Chris, she was going to introduce me to him. She was really looking forward to that. There was nothing that she was worried about.”
Ms Di Mauro said that Celeste’s employer Serco was aware of the stalking allegations and she was always accompanied to her car. She had been worried about being followed home and was always checking her rearview mirrors, but she didn’t believe that Mr Sako knew her home address.
“She was confident that no-one had followed her. Because she was confident no-one had followed her, our safety concerns were never in the home,” Ms Di Mauro said.
“We thought we were safe at home, but clearly we weren’t.”
Ms Di Mauro said that her main goal now was to fight to ensure others are protected.
She believes tracking devices should be used to alert police and the victims that alleged offenders are close by and that offenders should have mandatory behavioural change therapy or counselling to deal with their issues if they breach intervention orders.
“I’m meeting with the Attorney-General today and I need to somehow get through to her this is not a matter of yes, let’s table it and look at it when we can or in a few years. How many more girls, guys, anyone, has to die first and how many more parents have to live with this?
Mr Manno said he was also passionate about creating change.
“[Aggie] is not giving up and I’m fighting for the same cause,” he said. “Enough is enough. It’s got to stop.”
“What will it be, another girl or woman to get hurt, killed or seriously injured for people to listen? It’s got to stop with Celeste. She didn’t deserve it and the system failed her.
“For a father grieving a daughter now, it’s sickening. The alarm bells were ringing, the police knew about it, the case worker knew about it.
“When someone cries out for help, we have to listen, especially vulnerable people, especially young girls. It’s got to stop. We can hear the pain, we can hear the cries. Let’s do something about it. Celeste deserves it.”
A petition to strengthen laws around stalking sparked by Celeste’s death was tabled in State Parliament on Tuesday after it garnered more than 8000 signatures.
The petition was tabled by Justice Party MP Tania Maxwell, who on Wednesday said the enforcement around stalking and intervention orders were “an absolute disgrace”.
“This makes me so angry. I can’t begin to imagine how Celeste’s mum and [brother] Alessandro feel when I’m just a bystander and I am furious. Many other women have come to me and feel exactly the same, that this is not good enough, stalking charges need to be taken seriously,” she said.
The petition was created by a friend of Ms Manno in the days after her death.
Ms Manno was farewelled at a service in Whittlesea last week. At the service, her mother said she would fight for justice for her daughter.
The young woman was remembered in the days after her death as a “gorgeous young soul” who had quickly climbed the ranks at the call centre where she worked.
