THE WIFE of the dominos driver who battered Sabina Nessa to death told mourners at a vigil that it “would have made more sense if he’d killed me”.
Primary school teacher Sabina, 28, was ambushed in a “premeditated and predatory” stranger attack as she walked to a pub in Kidbrooke, South East London, to meet an old pal in September.
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Koci Selamaj lay in wait for a victim after driving from his home in Eastbourne, East Sussex, to London to attack a woman using “extreme violence”.
The monster pounced on her and battered her 34 times with a 2ft metal weapon – believed to be a red road sign – so savagely it broke into pieces.
The Albanian national is believed to have strangled her in undergrowth in what is suspected to have been a sexually motivated attack.
Yesterday Selamaj, 36, pleaded guilty to murdering Sabina when he appeared at the Old Bailey.
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Now it’s been revealed that his wife, Ionela Selamaj, was one of hundreds of mourners who paid tribute to Sabina at a vigil in Eastbourne less than three weeks after her death.
Heart wrenching pictures show the killer’s wife sobbing uncontrollably while being comforted by a friend.
The pal told Mail Online: “We met by accident at the vigil. She tapped me on the shoulder and started sobbing and I hugged her. She cried all evening, until late at night, when we went by the sea and threw flowers in the water.
“She kept saying she doesn’t understand what he had against Sabina and that it would have made more sense if he’d killed her — not Sabina.”
Ionela had been married to Koci for three years – and had witnessed his erratic behaviour first hand.
She friend explained: “She told us that in the past months he became violent.
“He tried to strangle her three times. One day he came home from work and without saying anything he just came at her and strangled her. She thought she was going to die. But something happened and he stopped.”
Ionela, who is a cleaner and part-time belly dancer, had been attacked by him just six weeks before the murder – and decided to leave him.
However, on the same day that he killed Sabina, he arranged to meet up with Lonela at the hotel she cleans.
Another friend said: “He asked her to meet him in the parking lot, without mentioning that he had checked in at the same hotel she works in.
“He proposed sex to her, she said no, and she went back into the hotel. She told me he went back to his room, without her knowing, and stayed there for a while then he went to London.
“He stayed on the third floor, while she was working on the second floor. She only found out he was there later when her boss told her.”
Just hours later, he murdered Sabina and drove back to the hotel to spend the night.
He went nine days before being arrested by police – and his wife had no idea he was being hunted.
Her friends say she is now struggling to come to terms with feelings of guilt for not having done something to stop him, but also counts herself lucky to be alive.
Now Ionela has given up her hotel cleaning job and has moved to London to try to rebuild her life.
Her friend said: “She feels very ashamed she is the wife of a murderer and she is afraid to leave her room.”
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