Acid attack on Monika Chetty: charity and cruelty on Sydney streets

SYDNEY opened its heart to Monika Chetty, the woman who suffered a shocking acid attack in Liverpool, when she was homeless.

SYDNEY opened its heart to Monika Chetty - the woman who came to prominence after telling police she suffered a shocking acid attack in Liverpool - when she lived homeless on the streets.

It was the kindness of strangers that kept her going.

Families gave her money when she begged in malls.

Stallholders at Westfield food courts in Parramatta and Liverpool and in Cabramatta shopping centre made sure she didn't go hungry.

Jehovah's Witnesses gave her shelter and crisis care services found her a bed - but she never stayed long.

MONIKA CHETTY'S CASE HAS POLICE BAFFLED

She was given clean bedding, clothes and food, and mobile phones by people who only knew her as the woman who slept in their local parks across Parramatta, Green Valley and Cabramatta.

Families offered her their porches to sleep on and gave her space to store her belongings, which she kept in dozens of garbage bags.

They let her charge her mobile phone, her lifeline when she wanted to call her three children, who live with the husband she walked out on about four years ago.

In the evenings Ms Chetty begged at Liverpool station where Kristy Tsoukatos, who works at the station newsagents, used to give her change.

"She had a nice aura to her, she seemed gentle, sweet and appreciative," Ms Tsoukatos said.

Kristy Tsoukatos would give Monika Chetty spare change.

Those strangers are horrified that the mother-of-three remains in a critical condition in Concord Hospital with burns to 80 per cent of her body.

Green Valley Superintendent James Johnson said police had been overwhelmed by the number of people who had come forward with information helping them trace Ms Chetty's movements.

But they were still missing details of the vital days before New Year's Eve.

Ms Chetty, 39, was found by police in bushland behind Ferraro Crescent at Hoxton Park last Friday night after a resident reported hearing a woman crying out for help.

She had suffered extensive burns to her face and body but did not appear to be in pain. She initially rejected medical help.

She told police the burns were the result of an acid attack in Liverpool's Bigge Park.

Officers are awaiting forensic reports on what caused the severe burns, but are looking at whether they may have been self-inflicted.

"This is one of the most baffling investigations I have ever seen and it gets weirder every day," Supt Johnson said.

Ms Chetty was working at a nursing home when she walked out on husband Ronald Chetty four years ago, taking their sons, now aged 15 and 13, and a daughter, six, with her.

Her husband said his wife called him 3 ½ years ago to say she was homeless and he took the children.