It’s starting to feel like trash week for appalling humans: First, an émigré doctor in Melbourne gets suspended from practicing medicine after his sexist and racist online comments come to light; now, another Malaysian based in Melbourne was charged in court for blackmailing a couple in mourning over their mobile phone. The two had pleaded with the public to return it, as it contained photos of their terminally-ill 11-month old daughter.
Siti Nurhidayah Kamal, a 24-year-old mother of two children of her own still here in Malaysia, demanded AU$1,000 (RM2,900) from the grieving two.
Jay and Dee Windross reported that their phone was forgotten in a public toilet at Chadstone Shopping Center, and when they returned to reclaim it, the mobile was no longer there.
At the time, their daughter Amiyah was dying, and the phone contained many of the only photo memories they would have of her.
The media attention behind the missing phone was unparalleled: Even Victoria state’s premier, Daniel Andrews, joined the public appeal.
Receiving a message which they described as “remorseful” for having taken the phone, the individual on the end (aka Siti), asked for AU$1,000 to be deposited into her bank account, and only then would the phone be returned.
The sad news was two-fold: The Windrosses soon learned that the entre plot was a hoax, intended to give them false hope, and to give-up money; later that week, Amiyah passed away.
On Monday, Siti was charged with blackmail, with both Jay and Dee in the courtroom, apparently “staring down” their accused blackmailer.
“The hours that we spent holding our daughter, this woman was sitting in her own house demanding money from us,” Australian outlet 9News reported Dee as saying.
“It’s despicable, it’s disgusting. Why would anyone do that?
“She knew the position we were in. You could tell by the messages.”
Police were able to track Siti down using the bank details that she provided the couple with.
This was not Siti’s first brush with illegal activities. Soon after the story broke on Malaysian shores, netizens were quick to remind the public that she is an allegedly wanted con woman here, accused of selling fraudulent Air Asia tickets to would-be travelers.
Her husband begged for his wife to be released on bail, explaining that he didn’t know she had done that, that they don’t have the phone, and that “maybe she just used that for money. That’s it.”
No, sir. That’s not really “it,” and it seems that you don’t quite “get it.”
