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Thread: 25 Yr Old Australian Samantha Azzopardi Convinced Irish & Then Canadian Police That She Was A 14 Yr Old Eastern European Victim Of Human Trafficking

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    25 Yr Old Australian Samantha Azzopardi Convinced Irish & Then Canadian Police That She Was A 14 Yr Old Eastern European Victim Of Human Trafficking

    We grew up in the same place. Can't say I blame her for going to extremes to get out, but ...




    http://www.independent.ie/irish-news...-29732135.html


    The woman, Samantha Azzopardi, illegally tried to draw social welfare benefits payments and received a six month prison sentence, independent.ie has learned.

    However, the sentence, handed down late last year, was suspended for 12 months.

    The revelation comes as gardai continue to liaise with their Australian counterparts about the woman, who was taken into HSE care after being discovered in a distressed state outside the GPO on Dublin's O'Connell Street on October 10.

    Initially officers believed she was aged 14 to 16. But they have now confirmed she is actually 25 years old.

    The woman is believed to have up to 40 different aliases.

    Samantha Azzopardi is to be assessed this afternoon by a psychiatrist.

    Lawyers were at the High Court today where Mr Justice George Birmingham discharged the order that he had made allowing her to be detained under the Childcare Act.
    But he put a stay on the discharge until tomorrow morning to allow other arrangements to be put in place.

    The case is be mentioned in court tomorrow morning. It is hoped the assessment by a psychiatrist this afternoon will allow authorities to decide what steps to take next.

    The court heard she is "vulnerable" and she is to remain in HSE care for at least another 24 hours as her "life could be at risk" if she is released.

    Gardai revealed in court today that she been in Ireland for three weeks before she was found wandering around in a distressed state outside the GPO.

    Ms Azzopardi* was initially believed to have been a teenager victim and could not communicate with gardai.

    However, it has now emerged she has family connections in Tipperary and officers are satisfied that she is not a victim of human trafficking.

    The Herald understands a man, who is not a relative, made contact with detectives yesterday afternoon.

    ?He was able to tell them who she was and supply details about her* family,? explained a source.

    It is believed that Samantha (25) was living with relatives in Clonmel, Tipperary.

    The massive breakthrough came just hours after gardai released a photograph of the young woman.

    Sources said that the Australian citizen is thought to have travelled here via the United Kingdom.

    ?She does understand English and can articulate in writing English, but she won't speak,? said a source close to the investigation.

    ?She is not talking. There is some written communication coming from her, but only bits and pieces.?

    The woman had refused to allow herself to be photographed and the images of her issued yesterday are understood to have been taken without her knowledge.

    A source close to the case said: ?She is very disturbed. It would appear there is something very serious going on here.?

    A garda spokesperson confirmed: ?With the assistance of the public, the Gardai are now following a definite line of enquiry and will be liaising closely with the Australian Police and the HSE to finalise the matter.?

    The Australian Federal Police are working with Gardai, and would not confirm any reports on her identity, DNA tests or aliases.

    A spokesman for Australian Police said there are potential mental health issues so there are important privacy issues in place.

    The identification of the 25-year-old woman followed an unprecedented move by gardai to publish a photograph of a person in State care.

    More than 2,000 hours of garda time has been devoted to trying to identify the woman and there have been more than 100 separate lines of inquiry by officers.

    INVESTIGATORS

    In all, 15 possible names were given to investigators but none of the names were correct when they were checked out.

    There are reports in Australia this morning that a member of the girl?s family has now made contact with the gardai.

    When she was found in a distressed state near the GPO on Dublin?s O?Connell Street on October 10, the woman was wearing clothes from Irish department stores and had braces fitted.

    While in State care, she rarely spoke but did sketch pictures of being taken on an aircraft. She gave officers no indication of her origins.

    http://www.smh.com.au/world/australi...07-10rjb6.html

    Once she was identified as an Australian citizen, Ms Azzopardi's long and troubled past came to light and raised questions about how she has been allowed to ricochet around the mental health system in Australia. Ms Azzopardi first came to the attention of authorities in Rockhampton in November 2007 when she falsely represented herself as Lindsay-Lana Jonbenet Coughlan, with intent to defraud. In September 2010, a Samantha Azzopardi was charged with posing as student Dakota Johnson at Brisbane State High School. At the time she would have been 21 or 22.

    Ms Azzopardi was sent back from Ireland to Australia, where she had a history of fraud-related charges. It was not clear when or how she entered Canada.* The Australian Federal Police declined to comment on the case, saying it was a matter for Canadian authorities.
    Last edited by blighted star; 10-07-2014 at 08:14 PM.

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    http://www.independent.ie/irish-news...-29734213.html



    'GPO girl' has convictions for fraud – and 40 different aliases
    Paul Williams and Aodhan O'Faolain
    PUBLISHED
    07/11/2013
    THE mysterious 'GPO girl' identified as 25-year-old Australian Samantha Azzopardi has up to 40 different aliases



    The Irish Independent has learned that the woman is well-known to police in New South Wales and has been involved in similar circumstances to the one in Dublin when she was found wandering the streets. A psychiatric evaluation of Ms Azzopardi was ordered yesterday and a court is expected to decide today whether she will remain in HSE care.

    Gardai will now have to decide on whether to charge the Australian woman with wasting police time. While security sources confirmed that Ms Azzopardi had mental health issues, they revealed that she had convictions for fraud, deception, false pretences and using forged documents in Australia. She has also been convicted of giving false names and impersonation. Her most recent court appearance was in October, 2012, when she was convicted of fraud and deception offences for claiming benefits she was not entitled to.

    She was given a suspended six-month prison sentence at the time. A senior source said: "From enquiries made in Australia, a picture is emerging of a Walter Mitty-type character who assumes a persona . . . It may explain why she did not want her picture released by the gardai. "She also has in-depth knowledge of police procedures. She has done this kind of thing before. This is a 'catch me if you can' scenario although it is accepted that she has psychiatric issues." Ms Azzopardi came to Ireland to visit relatives in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, three weeks before she was found wandering in a distressed state outside the GPO on Dublin's O'Connell Street on October 10.

    She is described as being of extremely light build, weighing just 40kg, which convinced gardai and care workers that she was in fact a teenager. It was only when gardai released a photograph of the mystery girl on Tuesday – following a legal wrangle with the HSE – that she was identified by Irishman Joe Brennan. Mr Brennan is not related to her but it is understood had been involved in a relationship with her mother Joanna and she had stayed in the house for a while.

    RELATIVES The house in Prior Park was not occupied last night and Mr Brennan has gone to stay with relatives. His family are very well-known and respected in the Clonmel area. The costs of the investigation were "huge" according to sources. A dedicated team of detectives had followed up 115 lines of enquiry during 2,000 man hours. At the same time, armed officers were deployed from Store Street station to protect the girl around the clock. She purported to have very little English and sketches she drew led gardai to fear she was a victim of trafficking.

    The saga cost the State at least €200,000 in legal fees alone, after the HSE went to the High Court to try to stop them releasing her photograph to help identify her. "The HSE fought tooth and nail to prevent this lady's picture being published and as a result there were three teams of counsel hired while the case was being heard," a senior source told the Irish Independent. The High Court ruled yesterday that Ms Azzopardi would remain in HSE care until at least this morning. Mr Justice George Birmingham was informed that the young woman may be suffering from a psychiatric condition.

    Felix McEnroy, SC for the woman's court-appointed guardian, said that while it was accepted she was not a minor, a "temporary vacuum" should not be created allowing the woman to leave where she is currently in care. "If such a door was opened" it could "put her life at risk," he said. Mr Justice Birmingham said he was prepared to discharge the care orders – but in the woman's interests, he was placing a stay on the discharge until today when the matter comes back before the court

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    Senior Member blighted star's Avatar
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    That was last year, now for this week

    http://www.news.com.au/world/north-a...-1227083085458


    AUSTRALIAN woman Samantha Azzopardi, who duped Irish authorities last year into thinking she was an Eastern European child sex slave, has allegedly attempted a similar story in Canada. Azzopardi, 26, from Campbelltown in Sydney’s southwest, walked into a Calgary health centre on September 16 alleging she was a 14-year-old who was the victim of an abduction and prolonged sexual assault, Canadian authorities said on Monday.


    Alleged years of violent sexual assaults and torture ... Sydney woman Samantha Azzopardi was charged in Calgary, Canada. Picture: Calgary Police Service Source: Supplied


    Azzopardi, using the alias Aurora Hepburn, allegedly told investigators she had endured years of violent sexual abuse and torture. It was not until last Thursday that the Calgary Police Service was notified of a similar, world headline-making case investigated last year in Dublin



    [IMG]Used the alias Aurora Hepburn ... Samantha Azzopardi walked into a health centre alleging she was 14-year-old victim of an abduction and prolonged sexual abuse. Picture: Calgary Police Service Source: Supplied

    Staff Sergeant Kelly Campbell, of Calgary Police Service’s Child Abuse Unit, said it initially took Azzopardi’s allegations very seriously. “There was considerable impact to a lot of the professionals that were working on this investigation as we were led to believe that this was an actual occurrence,” Campbell said at a media conference on Monday, Global News reported. “Our concern was that there were actual victims out there, more victims.” After liaising with Irish authorities, it was determined the woman in Calgary was Azzopardi — she has at least 40 aliases. Azzopardi is charged with public mischief to mislead a peace officer and faces up to five years’ jail.

    Due to her multiple aliases, Calgary police have released a photo of Azzopardi in the hope the public can provide information about her movements in Calgary. Irish authorities last year also took the rare step of releasing her photo after she was found wandering Dublin streets and led Irish police to believe that she was a teenage sex-trafficking victim. Azzopardi drew pictures apparently showing herself being raped, forcing Irish police to release the photo of her in a bid to find her identity.

    Azzopardi was subsequently sent back to Australia, where she had a history of fraud-related charges. The Australian Federal Police declined to comment on the case, saying it was a matter for Canadian authorities

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    I knew she'd be back. I hope they get her some help this time because no-one does shit like this without something serious in their background


    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/samantha-a...30-gzb6fb.html
    OCTOBER 30 2017 - 7:01PM

    Samantha Azzopardi posed as teenager, enrolled in Sydney school

    Harper Hart seemed strange from the moment she enrolled at a high school in Sydney's inner west in late 2016.

    Though she said she was 13, most teachers at the Good Shepherd School thought Harper looked at least a few years older.


    Samantha Azzopardi pleaded guilty to four charges of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, for the education, counselling, food, accommodation and electronics she was given while posing as a schoolgirl.

    When they asked for identification, she said she was under the US Government's Witness Protection Program, and was a victim of sexual assault and human trafficking.

    She produced a birth certificate from San Francisco, California, which named Burwood couple Julian and Rebekah Hart as her biological parents.


    There was just one problem: the Harts, Harper's guardians, had told the Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) that they first met Harper when she was already a teenager.

    Overwhelmed by suspicion, FACS contacted police, and detectives began to methodically unravel Harper's story in early 2017.

    She proved elusive, turning her back to CCTV cameras when she saw them and refusing to be in a school photo.

    In May 2017, investigators realised why. They were told about Samantha Lyndell Azzopardi, 29, a serial conwoman with a history of posing as a vulnerable teenager around Australia and around the world.

    Samantha Azzopardi and her bizarre methods are bitterly familiar to police in Ireland and Canada, after police forces in each country wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars investigating her fraudulent claims.

    Police took a photo of Azzopardi from the internet and showed it to teachers and case workers, who agreed Hart and Azzopardi were identical.

    Forensic technicians tested one of the assignments Hart had handed in, finding it to be covered in the fingerprints of Azzopardi.

    The 29-year-old, from Campbelltown, was arrested and charged. She pleaded guilty to four charges of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, for the education, counselling, food, accommodation and electronics she was given while posing as Harper.

    At a court in Hornsby in July, she was sentenced to a maximum of one year in jail, to be eligible for parole after six months.

    Azzopardi and her bizarre methods are bitterly familiar to police in Ireland and Canada, after police forces in each country wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars investigating her fraudulent claims of being a teenage victim of child trafficking.

    In Calgary in 2014, she admitted her lie after 17 days, but her 2013 Dublin ruse was only exposed when police made a public appeal using her photograph and someone recognised her.

    Azzopardi gained the confidence to dabble in international deception in Brisbane and Perth, where she first posed as a teenager and attempted to enrol in three high schools.

    On September 1, 2010, she was knocked back from Mount St Michael's College in Brisbane's Ashgrove because the school was not accepting applications so late in the year. Seven days later, she tried to enrol at Brisbane State High School, but the deputy principal checked on her reference letter and found it to be fraudulent.

    In 2011, as 16-year-old Emily Azzopardi, she befriended a young girl at TAFE and over several months convinced the girl's parents to begin proceedings to adopt her. She was enrolled in Year 11 at Girrawheen Senior High School in February 2012, and attended the school until March when she was taken away by the Major Fraud Squad.

    In the NSW District Court on Monday, Azzopardi appealed the 12-month sentence for her latest crime on the grounds it was too severe.

    Judge Paul Conlon dismissed the appeal, labelling Azzopardi "a really cunning, calculating fraudster" .

    Court documents reveal some of the tactics she used to delay detection, including using a list of more than 70 known aliases and - police suspect - drawing freckles on her face to appear younger.

    Wearing a grey dress and a black blazer, her dyed blonde hair knotted intricately on the top of her head, Azzopardi stared at her lap during the proceedings.

    "It is disturbing in the extreme that, at 29 years of age, she still attempts to pass herself off as an adolescent," Judge Conlon said.

    Azzopardi's solicitor, Phillip Ryan, said his client had "undoubtedly difficult and deep-seated issues" but the motivation for her behaviour is "difficult to see".

    A court-appointed psychiatrist said in a report that Azzopardi has a "remarkably unstable sense of identity", with a tendency to disassociate, giving a tentative diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder.

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    Seems she's still spinning shit. I can see this woman pretending to be a miraculously returned, long lost missing person one day



    https://www.news.com.au/news/nationa...9353ea00f3cb41

    Melbourne teen believes she was conned by serial fraudster Samantha Azzopardi

    A pre-teen from Melbourne was made to perform bizarre tasks in public after crossing paths with a serial fraudster on the run.

    Rohan Smith@ro_smith news.com.auJULY 23, 20191:00PM

    Video
    NEWS.COM.AU6:38
    Family confronts woman believed to be Samantha Azzopardi

    Police are understood to be closing in on the fraudster, believed to be Samantha Azzopardi, who has scammed families and...

    A 12-year-old girl with aspirations of becoming a star was preyed upon by a con woman and made to undertake a series of increasingly bizarre tasks.

    Jess*, from Melbourne, was told to enter several locations, including a legal aid centre, Centrelink and The Royal Children?s Hospital in April and ?pretend to be somebody else? while under the instruction of a stranger she met on the internet.

    The young girl was being told what to do by a person she knew as ?Marley? who was posing as a casting agent for United Talent Agency (UTA).

    Marley told her she was auditioning for a voiceover role for an upcoming Disney Pixar movie, but UTA has confirmed nobody named Marley has ever worked for them.

    The family now believes they were the latest victims of serial fraudster Samantha Azzopardi, a con woman with hundreds of aliases.

    News.com.au has approached Victoria Police who say they are investigating a number of reports involving the 31-year-old con woman and whether any crimes have been committed.

    Azzopardi is believed to be on the run after working as an au pair for a Melbourne family for a year under a fake name.

    Samantha Azzopardi (right) with American backpacker Emily Bamberger. Picture: News.com.au

    Samantha Azzopardi (right) with American backpacker Emily Bamberger. Picture: News.com.auSource:Supplied

    She told Tom and Jazze Jervis her name was Harper Hernandez, but when they confronted Azzopardi about her identity she took off.

    Jess?s family has viewed photographs and video of Azzopardi and spoken with the Jervis family. They are certain they were tricked by the same woman.


    News.com.au spoke with Jess?s stepmother, who said the family was still reeling from the encounter that included an unsupervised trip to Sydney.

    ?Jess and Marley had several meetings in the city where we now know she was made to do strange things pretending to be someone else,? she said.

    ?This woman also flew my daughter to Sydney for an apparent audition that resulted in her having to go into Centrelink and again pretend she was somebody else.

    ?In Centrelink, Jess had to write down on a piece of paper that she saw a ghost.

    ?At Legal Aid she had to give them a fake ID and birth certificate. It just doesn?t make sense.

    ?Meanwhile, while all this was happening, this woman was buying her expensive clothing and spoiling her.

    ?That?s when I knew something wasn?t right and felt straight away that it was grooming.?

    The woman posing as Marley now has the young girl?s birth certificate and her mother?s Medicare details.

    Samantha Azzopardi with people she met in Sydney in 2014. Picture: News.com.au

    Samantha Azzopardi with people she met in Sydney in 2014. Picture: News.com.auSource:Supplied

    The supposed scam with Marley is eerily similar to one that another Melbourne family fell for earlier this year.

    On that occasion, a woman calling herself ?Coco? convinced the family of a 13-year-old girl that she was ?in training? for an acting role.

    The girl?s mum told the Herald Sun that Coco flew the family from Sydney to Melbourne where the teen was again made to undertake a series of tasks, including cleaning international currency and playing the role of a girl whose sister had died in conversations with strangers.

    Coco paid for the family to stay in accommodation in Melbourne but checked them in using the name Jazze Jervis.

    When they confronted her about the two different names, the young woman replied: ?I feel like I am now being interrogated.?

    Video of the confrontation shows the woman, believed to be Azzopardi, becoming increasingly agitated. The video has since been handed over to Victoria Police.

    Azzopardi, 31, has a long history of impersonating others.

    In 2010, she told authorities in Brisbane she was 14-year-old Dakota Johnson. Authorities provided her with housing and help but she was later convicted of forging documents and false representation.

    Azzopardi in Dublin.

    Azzopardi in Dublin.Source:Supplied

    Azzopardi in Canada. Picture: Calgary Police Service

    Azzopardi in Canada. Picture: Calgary Police ServiceSource:Supplied

    In 2011, she told a family in Perth she was a troubled gymnast from Russia whose first name was Emily.

    She told them she was 16 and her entire family had died in a murder-suicide in France.

    In 2013, she told authorities in Dublin, Ireland she had been sexually assaulted by a number of men. Her story made international headlines, but when authorities discovered she was lying, she was kicked out of the country.

    In 2014, she told authorities in Calgary, Canada her name was Aurora Hepburn, but they quickly clued on to the ruse.

    A police spokeswoman said healthcare workers had ?spent countless hours working on the alleged victim to establish the extent of her abuse and provide services for her recovery?.

    ?We don?t know exactly how she got here,? the officer said.

    ?We are concerned about this happening somewhere else in Canada or anywhere.?

    In 2017, Azzopardi posed as a 13-year-old schoolgirl named Harper Hart. She tricked staff at a Sydney school into allowing her to attend classes but was later arrested and charged with four counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception.

    A woman, using the name Coco and believed to be Samantha Azzopardi, is thought to have posed as a talent scout to dupe a NSW family.

    A woman, using the name Coco and believed to be Samantha Azzopardi, is thought to have posed as a talent scout to dupe a NSW family.Source:Supplied

    She pleaded guilty and was jailed for one year.

    News.com.au spoke exclusively to a young American backpacker who crossed paths with Azzopardi in 2014 while holidaying in Australia.

    Emily Bamberger said she was told a story that seemed unbelievable, but she had no reason to believe she was being lied to.

    Azzopardi told her she was ?royalty?, and she had been kidnapped as a young girl. A series of bizarre events ended after Azzopardi convinced Ms Bamberger to get the pair fake IDs.

    Ms Bamberger was later deported from the country for fraud offences.

    ?I can?t believe how creepy that was looking back on it,? she said.

    *Jess?s name has been changed to protect her identity.

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