I think this girl has some kind of mental disorder. And it looks like she's falling through the cracks in front of our very eyes.
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An Australian woman who gained international attention last year after duping Irish authorities into thinking she was a teenage sex-trafficking victim has shown up in Calgary, where she is accused of spinning a similar tale.
Samantha Azzopardi, 26, who was found wandering the streets of Dublin last fall, led Irish police to believe she was a 14- or 15-year-old sex-trafficking victim from eastern Europe, according to media reports.
Because she communicated only through drawings, Irish police took the unprecedented step of getting a court to authorize the release of her photo to help identify her. That’s when they learned she was an Australian woman with a history of fraud-related charges and 40 aliases.
Now, the woman — described as a “Walter Mitty-like con artist” by Irish media — has been charged in Alberta after making similar abuse allegations.
Calgary police said a woman walked into a city health centre on Sept. 16 claiming her name was Aurora Hepburn, that she was 14 and that she had been the victim of an abduction and years of violent sexual abuse and torture.
“For several weeks, investigators and health-care workers spent countless hours working with the alleged victim to establish the extent of her abuse and provide services for her recovery,” Calgary police said in a statement.
While parts of her story didn’t add up, investigators knew that victims of sexual assault are often disoriented, said Staff Sgt. Kelly Campbell of the child-abuse unit.
“With these types of complaints and offences, victims are very traumatized and so it is a difficult process to get details,” she said. “We have to work with our victims because that is the most important thing.”
But suspicions arose after Calgary police learned of a similar case that had been investigated by Irish police that turned out to be fake. After reaching out to their Irish counterparts, it was determined the woman in Calgary and the woman from the previous case were “one and the same,” police said.
Azzopardi has been charged with public mischief related to misleading a police officer, an offence that is punishable by up to five years in prison. Calgary police said they were taking the “unusual step” of releasing her photo in the hopes of getting information about her movements.
Azzopardi is co-operating with investigators, but police have not determined a motive behind the alleged deception. Campbell would not comment on the suspect’s apparent mental state or whether she had injuries consistent with prolonged sexual abuse and torture.
The Crown prosecutor’s office is working with the Canada Border Services Agency on the case, Campbell said, suggesting she could be deported.
The bizarre chain of events began last October when Irish media reported that a girl had been found wandering the streets in a daze. The Irish police force launched an investigation after she drew several pictures apparently showing herself being raped.
Weeks went by and police were still unable to figure out who she was, prompting them to take the extraordinary step of getting a judge’s approval to publish a photo of her and to make an international appeal for the public’s help.
Within hours, police learned of her true identity and her past. “The picture painted of her in briefings was one of a fantasist, a liar and a Walter Mitty-type character,” the Irish Independent reported last November.
Azzopardi subsequently was sent back to Australia.
It is not clear when or how she entered Canada. Border officials said Monday they could not discuss specific cases.
Azzopardi previously had worked as a waitress at a pancake restaurant in Australia, the Courier-Mail newspaper in Brisbane reported last year. She was a “sweet girl” but did not fit in with her colleagues and sometimes didn’t show up for her shifts, her former boss, Chris Nunes, told the paper.
One day, Azzopardi told her boss she planned to travel the world to donate a kidney.
“I just said, ‘that’s nice,’” Nunes told the paper.
Read more: Alleged ‘Walter Mitty-like con artist’ turns up in Alberta
Alleged ‘Walter Mitty-like con artist’ turns up in Alberta
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
An Australian woman who gained international attention last year after duping Irish authorities into thinking she was a teenage sex-trafficking victim has shown up in Calgary, where she is accused of spinning a similar tale.
Samantha Azzopardi, 26, who was found wandering the streets of Dublin last fall, led Irish police to believe she was a 14- or 15-year-old sex-trafficking victim from eastern Europe, according to media reports.
Because she communicated only through drawings, Irish police took the unprecedented step of getting a court to authorize the release of her photo to help identify her. That’s when they learned she was an Australian woman with a history of fraud-related charges and 40 aliases.
Now, the woman — described as a “Walter Mitty-like con artist” by Irish media — has been charged in Alberta after making similar abuse allegations.
Calgary police said a woman walked into a city health centre on Sept. 16 claiming her name was Aurora Hepburn, that she was 14 and that she had been the victim of an abduction and years of violent sexual abuse and torture.
“For several weeks, investigators and health-care workers spent countless hours working with the alleged victim to establish the extent of her abuse and provide services for her recovery,” Calgary police said in a statement.
While parts of her story didn’t add up, investigators knew that victims of sexual assault are often disoriented, said Staff Sgt. Kelly Campbell of the child-abuse unit.
“With these types of complaints and offences, victims are very traumatized and so it is a difficult process to get details,” she said. “We have to work with our victims because that is the most important thing.”
But suspicions arose after Calgary police learned of a similar case that had been investigated by Irish police that turned out to be fake. After reaching out to their Irish counterparts, it was determined the woman in Calgary and the woman from the previous case were “one and the same,” police said.
Azzopardi has been charged with public mischief related to misleading a police officer, an offence that is punishable by up to five years in prison. Calgary police said they were taking the “unusual step” of releasing her photo in the hopes of getting information about her movements.
Azzopardi is co-operating with investigators, but police have not determined a motive behind the alleged deception. Campbell would not comment on the suspect’s apparent mental state or whether she had injuries consistent with prolonged sexual abuse and torture.
The Crown prosecutor’s office is working with the Canada Border Services Agency on the case, Campbell said, suggesting she could be deported.
The bizarre chain of events began last October when Irish media reported that a girl had been found wandering the streets in a daze. The Irish police force launched an investigation after she drew several pictures apparently showing herself being raped.
Weeks went by and police were still unable to figure out who she was, prompting them to take the extraordinary step of getting a judge’s approval to publish a photo of her and to make an international appeal for the public’s help.
Within hours, police learned of her true identity and her past. “The picture painted of her in briefings was one of a fantasist, a liar and a Walter Mitty-type character,” the Irish Independent reported last November.
Azzopardi subsequently was sent back to Australia.
It is not clear when or how she entered Canada. Border officials said Monday they could not discuss specific cases.
Azzopardi previously had worked as a waitress at a pancake restaurant in Australia, the Courier-Mail newspaper in Brisbane reported last year. She was a “sweet girl” but did not fit in with her colleagues and sometimes didn’t show up for her shifts, her former boss, Chris Nunes, told the paper.
One day, Azzopardi told her boss she planned to travel the world to donate a kidney.
“I just said, ‘that’s nice,’” Nunes told the paper.
Read more: Alleged ‘Walter Mitty-like con artist’ turns up in Alberta
Alleged ‘Walter Mitty-like con artist’ turns up in Alberta
