Home And Away ‘catfish’ Lydia Abdelmalek fails in bid to overturn stalking conviction
A woman accused of being a “catfish” and using the identity of a Home And Away star to lure women into relationships has learned her fate.
A cunning catfish who used the identity of a Home and Away star to entrap victims in a cruel web of lies has lost her appeal.
Lydia Abdelmalek was behind the years’ long stalking campaign which included using the identities of soap stars and celebrities to harass and terrify victims.
The wannabe actor used the persona of Aussie heartthrob Lincoln Lewis and others such as British soap star Danny Mac to stalk and start relationships with women.
The 32-year-old lost her appeal to overturn six counts of stalking in the County Court of Victoria on Thursday.
“I am satisfied the appellant was responsible for the stalking behaviour,” Judge Quin said.
She found the charges against the woman proven and labelled the offending as “extremely bizarre”.
It comes three years after Abdelmalek was initially found guilty of stalking charges and ordered to serve two years and eight months behind bars in the Heidelberg Magistrates Court.
When the decision was handed down the woman’s victims hugged in court and one waved farewell to her tormentor as she was led into custody.
Outside court one of the victims thanked Victoria Police and prosecutors for their tireless efforts in the case.
“Now it’s off the streets and hopefully off the keyboard and can’t ruin anyone else’s life,” she said.
The lengthy appeal heard from her victims, family members, the actor she impersonated and cyber experts.
In a bizarre moment a decade old kilogram of chocolate one of the victim’s sent to Abdelmalek was tendered as an exhibit.
Another woman believed she was in a relationship with the Home and Away performer but discovered it was a lie when the real Lincoln Lewis was spotted on a flight when the fake claimed they were watching the State of Origin.
“I realised it, it was just a fruit loop pretending to be Lincoln Lewis,” the woman - who cannot be identified - told the court.
When she confronted the pretender, they claimed they were really “Michael Smith” and concocted another elaborate ruse to keep speaking to the woman. The catfish then claimed their real name was Danny Mac - an British actor - and used the Michael Smith name to avoid an ex-partner.
In a bid to find out who was behind the terrifying scheme she recorded conversations and with the help of police and later devised a plan to catch whoever was behind the plot.
She asked them to transfer $200 to fix a broken phone screen in 2013.
The money was deposited from a bank in Melbourne and when police checked footage it revealed the person’s identity.
It was Abdelmalek.
But she took to the stand to argue a fake Lincoln Lewis persona also duped her.
She explained she transferred $200 into one of her alleged victim’s bank accounts in late 2013 after she offered to pay the “actor” for his acting advice.
“He gave me a bank account and he said that he didn’t want the money but there was somebody that he knew that was a single mum that was struggling and to put the money in that account,” Ms Abdelmalek said.
The woman who received the cash later realised the person behind the scheme was female when police in Victoria asked her to listen to an acting reel of Abdelmalek.
“I will remember till the day I die, because that’s the moment the penny dropped and I realised that it had been a female the whole time,” the woman said.
Another victim who was viciously stalked went on to take her own life.
She was subject to constant harassment, threats and in one instance had intimate photos shared to her father.
There were times when she received up to 60 phone calls a day and went to police about her concerns.
But Abdelmalek consistently denied she was behind the “merciless” stalking campaign against the victims.
“You are the catfisher who created the deception around these people where they couldn’t live their lives anymore,” Crown Prosecutor Angela Moran asked.
“No,” was the response.
The former youth social worker also argued she had been hacked and suggested whoever was behind the attack on her was behind the stalking campaign.
Cyber experts disputed this claim, however, and said that level of activity was akin to that of a hostile nation.
According to expert reports emails used in the catfish scheme were linked to Abdelmalek’s address and photos, chat messages and phone numbers were found on devices she owned.
Judge Quinn said Abdelmalek’s evidence during the hearing was “confusing, inconsistent and was deliberately evasive” particularly when she was challenged.
“Her account does not make sense,” the judge said.
The father of the woman who took her life said there was “no let up” to the stalking and threats his daughter experienced.
“If not for the stalking, my daughter would still be here. You know, so we were robbed – the stalking robbed us of our beautiful daughter,” the emotional father told the court.
caroline.schelle@news.com.au