Mystery murderer
Mum of three’s agonising death from acid burns baffles police
A SYDNEY mother who was found dead in bushland with acid burns covering 80 per cent of her body remains a mystery, a coroner has said.
An inquest into Monika Chetty’s demise has found that the acid attack, which was inflicted weeks before her eventual agonising death, was a homicide “by person unknown”.
It’s thought eight litres of hydrochloric acid was used in the attack.
“I truly regret that this inquest has not been able to resolve the many questions about Monika’s death and has brought no person to justice,” said magistrate Elaine Truscott on Thursday at Burwood local court in Sydney’s inner west.
The 39-year-old former nurse was found in bushland in West Hoxton, in western Sydney, on January 3, 2014.
When police found the extensively burned woman she was quietly crying out “help me, help me”.
The mum of three was taken to hospital where she couldn’t be initially identified because the burns were so extensive.
Ms Chetty told doctors she wanted to stay alive. Indeed, the attack is thought to have taken place at least three weeks before she was found between December 7-14, 2013, according to doctors.
But her burns specialist suspected she was doomed, despite her perseverance.
“(It was) the percentage of her body burned and her age,” he said on Thursday,” Associate Professor Peter Haertsch told the inquest.
“If those two things come to greater than 100, you are not likely to survive.”
Ms Chetty eventually succumbed 28 days after entering hospital from chemical burns to most of her body.