Diary of a burned nurse leaves clues for police in puzzling Australian case

WARNING: PAIN CONTENT

“Anniversary. 1 month 2 days we started sending messages,” Australian nurse Monika Chetty wrote in her diary on January 24, 2010.

The man whose first text message she was so eager to remember knew him as “Nick Cha.”

But she also called him “baby” over and over again on the pages where she recorded her hopes, worldliness, and anxieties.

In excerpts from the diary filed in court this week, Chetty wrote about how much he loved and missed “baby.”

But Nick Cha’s story was unraveled on close examination, according to police who searched Chetty’s diary for clues after his brutal death in January 2014.

Their inquiries revealed that Cha’s number was activated on Christmas Eve 2009, the same day that Chetty received that first text message.

It was registered in the name of “Miss Nick Cha,” whose date of birth was August 29, 2010, the court heard.

These and other investigations led police to believe that Nick Cha never existed, and that he was created for the purpose of manipulating and controlling Chetty in the years leading up to his death.

This theory was exposed in police statements submitted to the New South Wales Forensic Court this week, when a coronary investigation into Chetty’s death began.

Seven years have passed since two police officers found her lying in a bush in the Sydney suburb of West Hoxton on January 3, 2014, severely burned by acid and crying softly “help me, help me.”

The mother of three begged them not to call an ambulance, but was taken to Concord Hospital and evaluated by specialist Peter Haertsch, who knew she would not live.

“[It was] the percentage of his body burned and his age, “he said Thursday.” If those two things go over 100, you probably won’t survive. “

Chetty, who was 39 years old and severely burned to 80 percent of his body, died on January 31, 2014.

The attorney who assisted Christine Melis said “words cannot describe” what Chetty’s burns looked like, before showing a heartbreaking photo of her to the NSW Forensic Court.

“Who could have inflicted these wounds?” she asked.

The police still don’t know.

Deputy State Coroner Elaine Truscott is now exploring the extraordinary contradictions and complexities in Chetty’s life, in an attempt to solve the mystery that a high-ranking police officer once described as the most puzzling she had ever seen.

Chetty’s ex-husband Ronald described her as a “great mother” and a “normal couple” who changed beyond recognition after they separated in 2009 over financial troubles.

Monika Chetty’s gambling addiction created incredible strain on the marriage, Ronald Chetty said, and she also transferred about A $ 6,000 to Thailand after falling for a scam that falsely informed her that she was the winner of a lottery prize.

In 2013 she was homeless and was involved in a fraudulent visa scheme in which she extorted thousands of dollars from young Indians, the court heard.

Chetty left several irate victims in his wake, one of whom recalled texting her crying once she realized her money was gone: “Bitch, where’s my passport? What are you doing to me and Why are you doing me this? ? “

“Ha ha ha, what do you think I’m going to give you your money back?” She responded, according to a police statement.

In 2012 and 2013, the court heard, people began to observe Chetty suffering strange injuries, including burns to his hands and face. Some said his skin seemed to darken.

Ronald Chetty said she was burned, covered, and basically unrecognizable when he saw her in September 2012.

Melis said more than AU $ 184,000 went into Monika Chetty’s bank accounts between August 2010 and December 2013, but she was increasingly desperate for cash, often borrowing from Ronald Chetty, her sister Mohini. Prasad, his father and friends.

The source of these previous injuries is unknown. Chetty told people on several occasions that it was burns caused by a car radiator, splashes of cooking oil and other things, the court heard.

Monika Chetty had developed a close relationship with Sadma Begum, the co-owner of Fairfield’s Smart Cash Loans pawn shop with her husband Ion Olariu, and with Begum’s daughter, Mosmeen Mohammed, who resided in West Hoxton with her husband Chris Farras. the court heard.

Store records show that she frequently pawned jewelry at Smart Cash Loans since about 2008, referring to Begum as “Mom” and “Aunty” in conversations and in her diary.

‘The burned lady’

West Hoxton residents reported seeing Chetty at Mohammed’s home up to two years before the acid attack.

One of them described her as “the burned lady”, saying that she always wore long sleeves and hats, even in the heat, and that she would “scatter, go and hide” the second she saw someone.

Little is known about how, when, where and why Chetty suffered the severe acid burns that led to her death.

She told police that a random man threw acid at her in Liverpool’s Bigge Park the week before she was found, but police are sure this is not what happened, according to the investigation.

Professor Haertsch noted that the attack occurred between December 7 and 14, 2013.

Unbelievably, in the weeks that followed, Chetty was seen by the community – taking a bus 10 times, visiting a Westpac branch to pick up A $ 870, and begging at a mall and even a hospital lobby.

The hospital security guards noticed her blistered skin and asked her if she needed to go to the ER, but she told them she was fine and left, the court heard.

He was wearing thick clothing (sweatpants, a huge hoodie, a hat) that hid most of his injuries from the public.

In the days before she was found in the bushes, Chetty stayed at Mohammed’s home, sleeping on the terrace, the court heard.

Mohammed and Begum fed him and healed his burns.

Fictional men

After discovering Chetty in the bushes, the police spoke to Begum and Mohammed, who said she was a homeless woman who had knocked on their door about three days earlier.

“So this woman has been living on her porch with the injuries she has, using her hose as a shower and she can’t have a conversation without breaking up and has not contacted the police or paramedics?” an officer asked, according to a police statement filed with the court.

No woman answered the question, the court heard.

They later told police that the woman they had been caring for was a homeless woman named Nikki Prasad, according to a statement from Senior Detective Andrew Booth.

They said they knew Chetty but had not spoken to her since mid-2013 after an incident in which she threatened Mohammed.

Senior Detective Andrew Booth, who took over the investigation in May 2018, presented a detailed analysis of the phone records to the court, which he said showed Chetty was in regular contact with the two women up until the time he went. found.

In December 2013, Chetty made and received numerous phone calls to numbers registered under the names “Nick Prestons” and “Danny Stenzel.”

Booth told the court that he believed these men were fictitious and that the phones were controlled by Begum and Mohammed.

The records also showed Chetty speaking to “Nick Cha,” whom Booth said he believed was not a real person, and the phone used by either Mohammed or Farras.

These findings were based on analysis of the call log and phones pawned through Smart Cash Loans, Booth said.

Mystery of money

Booth said the call logs suggested that whoever was using the numbers for “Nick Prestons” and “Danny Stenzel” was contacting Chetty for a reason.

“I think they were demanding and pressuring Monika to provide money,” he said.

Booth said that Chetty was very vulnerable and had come to believe that she had been manipulated into falling in love with the fictional Nick Cha.

“The deceased believed that this man was the love of her life, never mind that she never met him and although some of their discussions included threats of violence,” she wrote.

“I believe that Begum, Mohammed, Farras and Olariu identified this vulnerability and abused it in a way that is economically viable for everyone.

“The amount of money the deceased received through visa scam or begging was significant [she] he was homeless and had no assets in all aspects of his life. “

Booth’s statement ends by saying that it is not yet clear who attacked Chetty.

He wrote that he was of “strong opinion”. Begum, Mohammed, Farras and Olariu know more than they say.

All four have been legally represented in the investigation and are expected to testify at a later stage.

Mohammed’s attorney, Sam Pararajasingham, suggested that many of the Indian men scammed by Chetty would have a “powerful motive” for causing him harm.

“I accept that,” Booth said.

He agreed that none of the scammed men could be completely removed.

‘You have to find the truth’

There are 129 deposits left in Chetty’s bank account that police have never been able to identify, the court heard.

Whatever happened to her, Chetty was unwilling to help the police in her last days.

“You have to find the truth,” urged a detective, his head wrapped in bandages.

It remains to be seen whether the investigation at the Forensic Court of New South Wales will be able or not.

Chetty’s son, Daniel, and his sister, Mohini Prasad, were in attendance every day of the first week of the investigation, giving testimony of harrowing evidence in the hope that it will help them find answers.

So did Gary Asher, who met Chetty in his final months when he was begging on the streets of west Sydney and gave him an estimate of AU $ 20,000.

Asher, who is not considered a suspect and says he cared deeply for Chetty, does not trust anyone to decipher what happened.

“Answers, where are they going to come from?” he said out of court on Monday. “There is too much mystery involved here.”