Sabina Nessa’s sister recalls the moment she learned of the murder minutes from her home

The sister of Sabina Nessa has spoken about the moment she learned that the London primary school teacher had been killed just minutes from her home in September 2021. Jebina Yasmin Islam described how her husband was on the phone to a sibling when she checked her own phone and found a missed call she hadn’t answered. "That's when I realised something was wrong," she recalled, detailing how the moment signaled a serious development.

She said she and her husband and their children immediately got into the car and drove to her mother’s house, which was about an hour away. "My mind was racing – I thought something had happened to one of my parents," Islam said, noting how her emotions shifted from confusion to anger and frustration as the news began to unfold. She described her head as being "going 500 miles per hour" as she tried to make sense of the situation and pleaded for someone to tell her Sabina was OK, perhaps just out shopping or meeting a friend. The family repeatedly scrolled through online headlines, and Islam recalled gasping at a headline reporting that "the body of a young woman had been found in Kidbrooke."

When detectives later told them Sabina had been attacked just minutes from her home, near Cator Park, Islam said she collapsed and broke down. A dogwalker had found her body in the park; Islam said the news did not make sense, noting she had walked through that park many times and it was always full of families and children. "It didn’t feel real; it felt like being in a bad dream," she said.

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