Samantha Azzopardi: Sentencing delayed for international con artist who faked sexual assault

Flooding has caused further delays in the matter of a 32-year-old international con artist with over 40 aliases who said she was a teenage victim of sexual abuse who had been held captive.

Flooding has caused further delays in the matter of a 32-year-old international con artist with over 40 aliases who said she was a teenage victim of sexual abuse who had been held captive.

Samantha Azzopardi, 32, was expected to appear in Moss Vale court on Monday for an application to dismiss the charges against her on mental health grounds. However, her lawyer Carolyn Shiels told the court her client was unable to attend the hearing due to the widespread flooding in NSW.

Azzopardi has previously entered pleas of guilty to two charges of falsely representing an act to police.

Samantha Azzopardi has been charged, under the name of Emily Bamberger, with making false representations to police.

According to the police facts, the Douglas Park resident contacted a youth worker at Youth Off The Streets on November 19 and claimed she was a teenage member of a cult. Azzopardi told the youth worker her parents had sent her from Brisbane to live with a man who had regular non-consensual sex with her, took photos of her, and held her captive.

She told the youth worker she sometimes slept in the park to avoid the ‘22-year-old man’, according to documents tendered to the court. The youth worker subsequently called the Child Protection Helpline, which triggered a police investigation.

The police facts show officers arranged with the youth worker to meet Azzopardi, who was using the 16-year-old alias Eleanor Harris, on November 22 but the accused got cold feet at the last moment.

A week later, the court documents state Azzopardi went to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and told a doctor she was a 16-year-old girl who had been sexually assaulted. She told the doctor a story similar to what she’d told the youth worker, adding that she had been injected with a fertility drug against her wishes. However, she ran off before the doctor was able to perform an examination.

Later that day, the facts show she met with the youth worker who noticed she had a bruise under her eye. According to the documents, Azzopardi told her ‘Aaron’ had hit her. However, police noted the bruise was absent when they visited her house on the same day.

Samantha Azzopardi was charged with serious offences in Ireland and Canada.

Azzopardi was arrested on December 1 after she made another call to the youth worker, who informed police.

This is not the first time the 32-year-old has impersonated a teenager, according to the court documents which state she previously pretended to be a 13-year-old girl to enrol in school.

The accused has been charged under the alias Emily Bamberger, which is the name of one of her previous victims.

Court documents reveal the identity is one of Azzopardi’s 40 aliases known to police and international authorities.

“The accused is skilled at fraud and con artistry,” the police facts claim.

“The accused is internationally known for committing such offences.”

According to the court documents, Azzopardi falsely claimed she was a victim of human trafficking in Ireland and cause police to launch a $300,000 investigation. She wasted $159,000 in Canadian police resources when she told police she was kidnapped and tortured, the documents state.

The court documents reveal Azzopardi was recently released from jail in Victoria, where she served a two-year sentence for kidnapping two children after she lied and told their parents she was a nanny in 2019.

Samantha Azzopardi briefly appeared outside Picton court on March 4.

The documents reveal she has been charged with 99 domestic offences related to fraud and deception.

The police facts allege Azzopardi poses a “significant risk to the community” due to her pattern of behaviour.

“(H) er uncontrollable desire to make fictitious reports sees countless resources being drawn from legitimate victims and investigations,” the documents said.

Azzopardi was released on bail in late December last year after 20 days in custody and given extremely strict bail conditions, which include not accessing a computer or using the internet on her phone.

According to the court documents, Azzopardi has a severe personality disorder as well as pseudologia fantastica, a condition which manifests as compulsive and pathological lying.

On Monday, Ms Shiels told the court she would be making a section 14 application to dismiss the charges laid against her client on the basis of her mental illnesses. She requested Azzopardi be allowed to appear via audiovisual link for the application, but Magistrate Mark Douglass refused.

“I don’t think I’ve ever dealt with (a section 14 application) without the person being present,” he said.

Lawyers for con artist Samantha Azzopardi arrive at Moss Vale court, with Carolyn Shiels on the right. Picture: Simon Bullard

Magistrate Douglass decided to adjourn the matter to ensure Azzopardi understands the outcome of the application.

“I’d prefer her to present, despite it causing a slight delay for the direction of the court,” he said.

The court heard the application will be opposed by the prosecution, who argue the mental illness treatment plan is insufficient.

Ms Shiels said her client would like to proceed to sentencing if the application is unsuccessful.

“My client has been under house arrest since she made bail and she’s quite eager to finalise it,” she said.

Azzopardi will return to Picton Court on March 18.