The Malaysian woman at the centre of a cruel and calculating hoax targeting the parents of a dying girl has been told she is not worthy of being called a person.
Siti Kamal, 25, came face-to-face with Jay and Dee Windross in the Victorian County Court today and cried as she was told her attempts to blackmail the Melbourne couple as their terminally-ill daughter lay dying in their arms is something they will never be able to move on from, reports News.com.au.
"Siti, I hope you remember these words for the rest of your life. You preyed on us," Mr Windross told her in a victim impact statement read out by the family's lawyer.
"The fact that I told you that our baby was dying in our arms … wasn't a deterrent for you.
"I don't know how a mother could treat another family like that."
The mother-of-two young children pleaded guilty to trying to extract money from the Windrosses by pretending to have possession of a lost mobile phone containing images of their dying daughter, Amiyah.
The phone belonging to Dee Windross had been left in the bathroom at Chadstone Shopping Centre on April 23 this year.
Jay and Dee Windross's story has been exploited in a fake online fundraising page. Photo / Facebook
The couple made a public plea on Facebook for the return of the phone and Kamal, who never had possession of the Samsung Galaxy S8, sent messages to the couple demanding they pay her for its safe return.
"I might just sell it … you may help me today and God may help you," she told Mr Windross via text.
"Please, I don't want to sell and erase all your messages."
Mr Windross begged her not to discard the only copies of photographs of Amiyah before their little girl died the following morning.
"Our baby passed away in our arms this morning," Mr Windross told her. "You have our memories of her."
Kamal responded: "I'm really sorry to hear that."
But hours later she wrote: "Are you going to deposit or not?"
Kamal sat in the dock wearing black pants and a black long-sleeved top and glasses. Through tears, Dee Windross read her victim impact statement to the court.
Amiyah Windross died on April 24, hours after Kamal allegedly contacted the family asking for money. Photo / Facebook
"While myself and my husband lay in a hospital with our dying daughter we had a woman … demanding money from us. Why? Because she thought she could make a few quick bucks out of people who were experiencing the most harrowing moments of their life," she said.
"As a mother … had it been one of her children's hearts slowly beating less and less. Instead she continued to berate my husband demanding money for a phone she didn't even have.
"If a woman, a mother herself, can do this to people in our situation, how can I ever trust others again?
"I had hoped that I would get all of those priceless memories back, memories that I will never be able to repeat. Then this woman she gives me hope then ripped it all away from me in an instant.
"I will never cope without my daughter. You ripped my hope from me … and you did that on purpose during the last hours I had with my daughter before she was taken from me forever."
HOAX MUM'S SOB STORY REJECTED
Siti Nurhidayah Kamal has admitted to blackmailing Melbourne parents. Photo / Facebook
Kamal, who the court heard left two young children behind in Malaysia to move to Melbourne for work as an Uber Eats delivery rider, has written two letters of apology to the Windrosses but the grieving parents requested for them not to be read out.
Kamal's lawyer attempted to explain her behaviour, claiming the 25-year-old "completely underestimated the cost of living in Australia".
He said she was "desperate", but Judge Elizabeth Gaynor pulled him up immediately.
"You talk about desperation," she said. "I'm a little concerned about that assertion."
Kamal's lawyer told the court she earned between $100-$150 a day delivering food around the Springvale unit she stayed in with her husband but paid $90 a week to hire the bicycle.
The matter was adjourned today until January after Judge Gaynor requested further detail on Kamal's intellectual disability.
News.com.au previously reported exclusively that Kamal is wanted for questioning in her home country regarding an airline ticket scam.
Several people who are owed thousands of dollars said they tried to buy tickets from a woman posing as an AirAsia employee who they believe is Kamal.
One police report lodged with Malaysian police in Kuala Lumpur accuses "Siti Nurhidayah Kamal" of taking money for tickets for six passengers to travel at a cost of 2895 Malaysia Ringgit ($1,070).
