Lincoln Lewis catfisher Lydia Abdelmalek could face more charges amid conviction appeal
She broke hearts posing online as a soap star, but Lydia Abdelmalek’s courtroom bid to overturn her conviction for cruelly catfishing victims didn’t go as she might have hoped.
Police & Courts
Don't miss out on the headlines from Police & Courts. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A Melbourne woman who impersonated a Home And Away heart-throb to “catfish” women online could face new charges with police examining potential new evidence.
And in a fresh twist to Lydia Abdelmalek’s case, a County Court judge has flagged her case may not have been dealt with properly, saying she should have faced more serious consequences for her crimes.
Lydia Abdelmalek was jailed in the magistrates’ court for two years and eight months for six counts of stalking while impersonating soap star Lincoln Lewis.
But she has appealed against her conviction to the County Court.
At a brief administrative hearing today, Judge Douglas Trapnell raised concerns about the case and flagged the idea of sending it back to the magistrates’ court.
He said it was his view the case should have proceeded through the court’s indictable stream, meaning Abdelmalek would have faced a trial by jury and tougher maximum penalties if convicted.
Instead, the case proceed in the summary stream, meaning it was decided by a magistrate alone.
Crown prosecutors and lawyers for Abdelmalek will prepare submissions about how the case should now proceed.
The court also heard new people of interest had been identified in relation to Abdelmalek’s crimes, meaning she could face further charges.
But police will first have to scour through thousands of new documents that are being examined.
Abdelmalek pretended to be Lewis and used other aliases to stalk seven people for about four years from May 2011.
One of Abdelmalek’s victims took her own life, but wrote a statement beforehand outlining the trauma of being duped into believing the TV star was in love with her.
The woman said she felt tortured for the “sick fascination, perverse pleasure and unhealthy satisfaction” of her tormentor.
Another victim said she had turned from the life of the party to a recluse after what the sentencing magistrate described as “calculated and cruel” offending.
Abdelmalek return to court in May.
MORE NEWS
HAND A CATFISHER BRINGS BIZARRE ITEMS TO COURT