MUM, 24, CHARGED WITH BLACKMAIL IN MELBOURNE
Siti Nurhidayah allegedly demanded couple pay A$1,000 for their missing phone
AMALAYSIAN woman has been charged in Melbourne with blackmailing a grieving couple for the return of their handphone that contained photographs of their dying 11-monthold daughter.
Siti Nurhidayah Kamal, a 24year-old mother of two whose children are in Malaysia, had allegedly demanded A$1,000 (RM2,915) from Jay and Dee Windross
in exchange for the phone.
Australia’s The Age daily reported that the Windrosses had launched a public appeal last week for the return of Dee’s handphone, which they said had been snatched in a toilet at Chadstone Shopping Centre.
The daily said the parents had begged for the handphone to be returned, no questions asked, as it contained priceless memories of their terminally ill daughter, Amiyah.
It said Daniel Andrews, the premier of Victoria, even joined in the appeal, saying that he could not imagine what the Windrosses were going through.
As the Windrosses were saying their final goodbyes to Amiyah, Jay received a text message from someone claiming to have the missing handphone.
“This text message described serious remorse for picking up the phone and not returning it sooner. However, their condition was they wanted A$1,000 to be deposited into their account for the return of the phone,” Jay had written on Facebook.
The couple later found out that it was a hoax, The Age reported, adding that Amiyah died in the early hours of Wednesday morning at Monash Children’s Hospital from an undiagnosed neurological condition that she had battled since birth.
At the Ringwood magistrate’s court on Monday, Siti Nurhidayah was charged with blackmail and the Windrosses were there “staring down” their accused blackmailer, Australian news channel 9News reported.
Police, the channel reported, had manage to tracked Siti Nurhidayah down from the bank details she provided the Windrosses. 9News reported her as crying in the dock as her husband took the stand begging for bail.
The report stated that the court was told Siti Nurhidayah and her husband, both of whom work as UberEats delivery cyclists, had moved to Melbourne in September last year.