True Crime: One man’s sick obsession that led to brutal stabbing death | 60 Minutes Australia

there was nothing not to love about Celeste how did this ever happen she was a sweet in her bed in our home Celeste Mano stalked and murdered oh my God he killed her paramedic said you know who did this I said yes yes by a man she barely knew former work colleague who had developed an infatuation infatuation coming up on 60 Minutes Court decided to grant him Mercy even though he showed Celeste none a mother demands answers when you walk into the police station what do they say to you nothing why were police powerless to stop this barbaric crime there is nothing that is about the victim the victim doesn't exist pause for a moment and take a close look at this beautiful young Australian her name is Celeste Mano 5 years years ago her future was as joyful as her personality but then a man she worked with ever so briefly became obsessed with her it was a tension Celeste never reciprocated that didn't stop louay Seiko though for more than a year he stalked her making her life miserable and in November 2020 he broke into her home and murdered the 23-year-old what happened to Celeste is tragic and harrowing this is a story we wish we didn't have to report but it must be [Music] told to feel close to her daughter agie deorro always carries this Golden Heart filled with her ashes what did you love about her there was nothing not to love about Celeste she was so beautiful well I think so I spent 23 years letting her know how blessed I was it's almost like I can hear her she'll say stop mom you're my mom that's what she'd say when I used to say so cuz I always told [Music] her Celeste Mano was 23 when she was killed by a man who had been relentlessly stalking her for more than a [Music] year these are the messages that haunt Aggie a mom who will never get over the pain of not being able to protect her daughter from the grip of loua [Music] [Music] Seiko Celeste worked in the same company but only knew Seiko briefly that didn't stop the 35y old from becoming obsessed with her though it was attention she never wanted and never reciprocated but that only fueled his desire never ever did it occur to me that this Beast would be capable of something like this this story is hard to watch but those who loved Celeste feel it's important to reveal the truth the the system failed to protect this young woman who did everything she could to try and stop the man stalking her all of it has been shocking and it's just wrong there is nothing that is about the victim the fact that somebody can be taken out of this world so callously is just so unbelievably unfair Chris rdale also worked at the same call center in Melbourne as Celeste they just started dating their new relationship full of promise and joy she chose you you say you were lucky yes because time with her was just was just always amazing when she was smiling you could see it from a mile away and she always just lit up and her laugh was in fous when she got going the events that would lead to an awful tragedy began in June 2019 when Seiko was sacked as the team leader in the telephone call center Celeste had the job of escorting him out of the building it was probably the most time they had spent together did she ever mention SEO never except for the day he left what did she say about him she's com in Qui um somewhat upset because she goes I really felt bad for him so I just extended my hand to wish him all the best she and he plants a kiss on my cheek mom I must have gone Tom my R I was so embarrassed and I said are you're such a drama queen sweetie he's probably had a crush on you all along and you haven't even realized a few days after after being fired Seiko contacted Celeste on Instagram it now seems as if this was the moment his infatuation began that following Saturday she mom have a guess who's just messaged me I said who just the guy I told you about the other day the one that left my work and then from there is how it all started his fixation with Celeste quickly grew one message became many more some of them almost were like poetry and there's just heaps of these messages and so I said oh my God they're all about how crazy in love he is with her he can't eat sleep he can't function he can't even look for work but no matter what Celeste said Seiko refused to go [Music] away Celeste tried to block him but each time he'd returned with a new Instagram account the stalking was becoming Relentless sometimes was within a matter of minutes she blocked an account closed her phone reopened it again half an hour later there was a new message request from a new random username and it had come from him he just wouldn't give up wouldn't wouldn't at all it was painful to watch celest go through it the way she stressed over it the way she lost sleep the way she felt in every way uncomfortable about the situation that was the the hardest part I said to Celeste look Celeste sweetie um this guy knows where you work okay we don't know who he is and what he wants the last thing we need is for him to find out where you live and she goes that's crazy gosh Mom I'm sure he's just going to get bored but he didn't after 6 months Celeste and Aggie had to do something they went to the police she didn't want to go to the police this particular message he' sent that was no longer one of his love messages this sounded like an angry message what did it say he says I'm going to climb up and show the world that I am somebody it was just the way it was written and so I said to her Celeste he's clearly not getting Bor he's not going away and when you walk into the police station what did they say to you he hasn't committed a crime there's nothing we can do about it he looked at Les and he said just ignoring she goes I have been ignoring and then he said you know that's social media these days if you don't like it get off social media did they take his name did they indicate they might talk to him I don't even remember him taking notes nothing nothing was done to stop Seiko messaging Celeste and for the next 6 months it just got worse Seiko was seen parked outside her work he started following her and figured out where she lived this had gone on for an entire year so now now we have so many more messages right the Instagram messages he was sending also became sexually explicit I'm a very visual person so visualizing what he wanted to do to her and it was in the most vulgar I've never read something like that they were now so worried about Seiko agie and Celeste went back to police and this time finally an officer listened he says have you been to the police before and I said Yes actually 6 months ago are you telling me something should have been done then he said let's just say some of us do our job better than others it was like this sense of relief and he says okay you need to get an intervention order now it was the first time police actually took down Lou seiko's name they served him with a personal safety intervention order which was meant to prohibit him from contacting Celeste but agie wasn't convinced so you walk away we walk away and do you feel finally protection no I said to Celeste this is just a piece of paper sweee let's remember that for a month the piece of paper worked but then a three page letter popped up on celeste's Instagram account it was the stalker back again this time pleading with her to stop ruining his life please see reason Celeste please Celeste the ball is in your court only you can end this now Celeste please end this nonsense by withdrawing the order and stopping the charges against me for stalking and harassment and if you make the right choice Celeste both of us can move on and we can finally have peace of mind when you read this letter what goes through your mind I said oh my God so he's breached the order now gosh I can't believe believe he breached it the police acted and charged Seiko it was a moment of relief for Aggie and Celeste everything stops he disappears and I said he got scared thank God please learned his lesson now we literally thought it was over but as you'll see that they were wrong seiko's next move was to buy a weapon it's a beautiful area here and uh we always enjoyed sitting up on the rooftop yeah Fitzroy in Melbourne's North will always be special to Chris ridsdale it was the last place he and his girlfriend Celeste Mano went on a date I couldn't have asked for a for a better last day to have with Celeste this photo was taken that day the Young couple was all smiles that beautiful photo what are you thinking and feeling in that photo just happy just in in every sense of the word Celeste was just so adamant that it would be my new profile picture on Instagram um and that she couldn't wait to put it up but that one precious photo triggered ex colleague Lou Seiko he'd been stalking Celeste for more than a year until police had taken out an interv ition order against him she thought it had scared him off but Seiko was still lurking in the shadows what has Seiko done he'd figured out not only where she was by following her car through stalking her through her Instagram photos to figure out exactly which house was hers which room within the house was hers as well it was November m 16 2020 Celeste and her mom Aggie deorro were the only ones home it was bedtime and they were saying good night to each other what was the last thing you said to her before you left I walked to the door and said light on or off and I think she said leave it on I'll put it off in a minute I all right love you she say love you more just before 4:00 a.m. armed with a hammer and a large kitchen knife Seiko smashed through celeste's bedroom window and violently attacked her faggi talking about that night is to relive it it was like something I'd just never heard it was like m a million pieces of glass just crashing and all of a sudden I I heard bir so I remember just going Celeste and I just ran out of bed and I'm just screaming her name down the hallway going sweetie what happened and I realize that I'm running all over glass I'm seeing blood I still don't get it and I'm pulling her out of a bed she's not helping me at all but I see all that glass and so I thought I didn't want to drop her on all that outside security footage shows Seiko fleeing in his car as the paramedics arrive inside Aggie is desperately fighting to save her daughter's life please sweetie please don't leave me don't leave me and then one of them stops me and he says this is a crime scene we found a knife and in that moment all I said was what oh my God he killed her he said do you know who did this I said yeah yes yes she's only been spoke to buy [Music] one Seiko had stabbed cist 23 times his strike to her heart had killed her she was asleep in her bed in our home and he did this under my watch that's something I have to live with I'll never forget the phone call that she was gone that he killed her that stalker that guy wouldn't leave her alone he smashed in the window and he killed her it's beyond heartbreaking it it kills you to relive that on her her behalf and try and understand what she must have gone through Celeste didn't stand a chance at the hands of Lou Seiko but as you'll see his evil act wasn't over yet his next move proved just how premeditated his murder plan had been when you hear that he drove to the police station straight away and handed himself in who the hell does something like this leaves the murder weapon behind drives to a cop station I said Jesus CR mark my words he's going to try and get off on mental impairment before agie de's daughter was murdered she didn't know much about the law I had to prepare myself I had to really prepare myself for what was going to happen next but now this broken mom has become an expert in what she says is a seriously flawed justice system what gives you the strength to sit here today in order to cope with living without Celeste I needed to understand exactly what was to come and the more I was learning the angrier I was becoming our legislation in so many areas is just wrong there is nothing that is about the victim Celeste Mano was stalked by her ex- colleague Lou Seiko for more than a year he tormented her before he stabbed the 23-year-old while she slept in her bed in November 2020 Aggie's determined to stop such a senseless crime happening again there's no parent wherever they live that are going to be fine with the laws the way they are having someone at you constantly and this anticipation that they could turn up anywhere they could call you anywhere I mean the psychological harm of that it really isn't well understood and well recognized within criminal justice systems psychologist Professor Troy mccuan is an expert in stalking behavior she says the first step in understanding the problem is being upfront about it recognize what stalking is and use the word stalking if you go to the police say stalking if you're talking about it with family use the word stalking call this what it is it's its own behavior that causes its own kind of damage and it need its own response celeste's murder prompted Victoria's law Reform Commission to launch an inquiry in 2021 into the state's stalking laws Professor mccuan worked on the review but she's angry that from 45 recommendations not a single one has been fully adopted what disappoints you the most about Celeste mano's death the government's response to the VRC report I've had cases that I've worked with where victims have literally had to kind of you know change their name move into State you know their whole life is upended it's enormously destructive we just need to do we need to do better fundamentally I know that the system failed that [Music] family Jacqueline Sims is Victoria's attorney general she's full of sympathy but it seems not much action since Celeste death can you say that the government has done enough to make it safer for victims the police have responded appropriately they have a new tool which really look looks at the risk escalating behavior and early intervention she's talking about a new assessment tool called sash which stands for screening assessment for stalking and harassment it's a list of questions officers should ask victims when they they first go to police it's designed to help identify highrisk stalking cases why are we four years down the track and that tool as you put it is still not rolled out to every police station we have the evaluation and the early signs are that it's good I'll having be having conversations early signs we're four years in the pilot is identifying concerning behavior that can amount to stalking um and so therefore that is a great tool for police do you think four years down the track more should have been done Celeste shouldn't be dead um I am motivated to make changes to this system we've started that and we'll continue to do so but there are no easy fixes if there was we would have done that already but that's not what agie wanted to hear so long after her daughter's death I Was Made commitments promises and silly me I believed it all and we know that right now if celeste's situation was occurring in the same way it would happen again the case was in and out of court for three painstaking years Seiko finally pleaded guilty to murdering Celeste but only after failing to convince psychiatrists he was mentally impaired he was found to know exactly what he was doing yeah there was premeditation behind this he bought the knife the day after we reported the bridge 10 days ago celeste's family mom Aggie her dad Tony and brother alesandro finally learned Lou seiko's punishment when you face this man in court what does he look like to you facing the demon that took my w daughter away from me was the most challenging experience in my life other than that night Seiko didn't show an ounce of emotion before or after he learned his punishment the judge said to him Celeste deserved life and you decided otherwise he was sentenced to at least 30 years in jail today's outcome proves just how flawed the justice system is of this FL celeste's parents feel let down once again they wanted a life sentence but the reality for them is no amount of time or punishment will ever be enough I should have been there for her I should have protected her it haunts me it's going to ha me to the rest of my life what did you want coming here today just Justice Just Just Justice Celesta had dreams like any other 23y old she doesn't get a second chance so I'm I'm supposed to be okay with him getting a second chance even when he's released from parole no the outcome is also devastating for celeste's boyfriend Chris ridsdale the fact that Celeste had to go through it for as long as she did was a crime in itself and things could have been done so much sooner before they had escalated to the point that they did that Celeste might have still been sitting here today he put his numbers down on the wall and count his days and count his years this is a family who will never come to terms with losing their celest she was just my she was just my world just just my world how much fight have you got left in you I'll never stop because I refuse to believe that laws can't change even though the man responsible will be 65 before he has any chance of being freed Aggie will fight forever for her daughter I promise celest that I would get her justice one way or another if this story has raised issues and you need to speak with someone there is help available call 1800 respect which is 1 800 737 732 hello I'm Nick McKenzie thanks for watching 60 Minutes Australia subscribe to our Channel now for brand new stories and exclusive Clips every week don't miss out on our extra minute segments and full episodes of 60 Minutes on .com. and the ow app

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 872,244

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Tara Brown, 60Mins, Amelia Adams, news, world news, news australia, investigative journalism, 60 minutes australia youtube, 60 minutes youtube, 60 minutes episodes, 60 minutes australia episodes, 60 minutes australia, 60 minutes, Adam Hegarty, Dimity Clancey, Nick McKenzie, celeste manno, victoria courts, Luay Nader Sako, luay sako, stabbing, murder, violence, crime, melbourne, victoria police, investigation, melbourne crime

Id: PuFG41Qnftw

Length: 26min 3sec (1563 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 10 2024