Our sister, Sabina Nessa was more than just a sister, a daughter, a teacher, it was a life that mattered. A life that didn’t deserve to be taken in such an odious and cowardly way. Everyone kept telling us she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But that wasn’t the case, she had every right to go that route, all in beauty and having fun after a long week of work. She had the right to feel safe.

You snatched it from us without hesitation. We will never forget the pain in our parents’ eyes when they learned that their daughter’s body had been found dead. The sound of the cries of Our Father wakes us up this Sunday morning. You are a horrible human being and don’t deserve your name spoken. What kind of human does this, but you’re not human, you’re a disgusting animal

From a very young age, our parents told us to be careful when we go out, to always date or date someone, to text when we are at home, or they will constantly call us to check if we are in security. We all thought they were too paranoid and a bit too protective. They weren’t. The worst happened to them. We foolishly thought that would never happen to us. Our parents are petrified every time one of their daughter’s feet comes out of the house now. How can we convince our parents that we are safe in this world, when we are not convinced? You stole our sister from us. You robbed us of the chance to go on our next adventure, celebrating her 29th birthday, her looking at me and our graduating little sister, our nieces having Sabina by their side, like she was with us growing up. She was an incredible role model, she defied all standards, she strove to be independent, she was powerful, fearless, brilliant and just an amazing soul.

How do you explain to our nieces that their aunt is no more, they will grow up without an amazing aunt. Sabina was funny and cared for her nieces and would do anything for them. She took him shopping and outings to the park. She loved her aunt very much. Her eldest niece knew right away that something was wrong and as a parent trying to explain to a five year old that her aunt is with Allah and she will be watching over you was truly devastating, seeing her face falling down and having so many questions that we couldn’t answer. Her youngest niece was only 10 months old when you murdered her. How can we as a family explain to her when she is old enough that she truly had an amazing aunt and loved her dearly even though she saw her for a short time in her life? We were at a loss for words and our hearts ache over the loss of Sabina.

After Sabina’s death, the half term was approaching. Sabina had planned to pick up her niece from my house and take her to her grandmother’s where she would spend her time, but who knew that summer vacation was the last time she would see her aunt. The thought of half term hit us hard and knowing that our sister wouldn’t be there for our mothers. During half-terms, we would be

both go to moms and hang out there, but now it’s just us. The emptiness of walking past her room knowing she’s not there shatters us with each pass, knowing she won’t be sitting on the middle couch in the living room munching on chips or cookies or take Tilly the cat for a haircut. How to continue life? The days go by but knowing that our sister will never cross our mothers’ front door again. We lie awake thinking this really happened to us.

I dreamed of my sister. She came home and I hugged her so tight that I didn’t let go. I remember screaming for my parents and sisters saying Sabina was there. I hugged her and told her you’re fine now, you’re fine and I won’t let her go. I would do anything to hold her one more time, to see her, to hear her, to speak to her. I would like this dream to be true and not just a dream.

You left our sister’s body in such a state that we couldn’t hold her hand one last time or be able to wash her body before her burial because her body was in such poor condition, it was all up to you. When we visited her in the morgue after finding out you had murdered her, we saw her lying there helpless, bruised, swollen and bloody in her face. These images will forever remain in our minds and what Sabina went through. In our heads we have these images of what happened during the attack and how our sister must have felt when you decided to run after her and attack her from behind when she couldn’t clearly not defend themselves. You planned this and made sure she was alone and no one was around to see you perpetrate this horrible crime on our beautiful sister.

You did everything in your power to make excuses and not answer any questions about our sister’s murder, which was clearly your fault, but you horrible human decided not to say anything.

You asked for a second review and revision of the file and you got what you want. His brain was removed for the pathologist to run some tests and see how much trauma you caused and identify the cause of his death. You continued to torment her even though she was dead.

What angers us is that you leaving our sisters’ bodies is a disrespectful way for your filthy desires. She was completely cold when you hit her on the head and when she fell on the bench she broke a few ribs but you continued to be violent against her even though she was cold. We just want answers why did you kill her? Why? How the hell are you allowed to sit here and say nothing and think it’s okay, because it’s not. You have no right to take an innocent life as our sister.

The thought of you not being present to hear our statements truly reflects how cowardly you are to not face up to your responsibilities and to hear the damage you have done to our family.

Sabina wouldn’t want us to sit around and mope. She wants us to get up, keep going and not be broken. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do. Our family will never forget what you did, but we won’t let you take us anymore.