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Melbourne baby phone blackmailer jailed

Siti Kamal, 26, threatened to delete images off the lost phone if the parents did not pay her $1000.

Siti Kamal, 26, threatened to delete images off the lost phone if the parents did not pay her $1000.

A woman who blackmailed the Melbourne parents of a dying baby girl will spend at least two years behind bars.

Siti Kamal pretended she had Dee Windross’ lost phone, filled with photos of the woman’s dying 11-month-old Amiyah, and demanded $1000 for its return in April 2019.

Kamal’s bid to extort money from Dee and Jay Windross was labelled as reprehensible by County Court of Victoria Judge Elizabeth Gaynor.

“That you should be so inspired in the first place by such suffering … I find to be so reprehensible as to be amoral,” the judge said on Tuesday.

“The immorality of your actions must have been clear to you form the outset.”

Kamal saw an opportunity in the distraught dad’s social media plea for the return of his wife Dee’s phone.

As the baby drew her last breaths, she sent Mr Windross more than 90 messages demanding $1000 in return for the phone, the court heard on February 24.

Despite never having the device, the 24-year-old threatened to sell it or delete the pictures of Amiyah.

Kamal exchanged nearly 160 messages with Mr Windross in 24 hours, including after Amiyah’s death from an undiagnosed neurological condition.

Kamal, aged 24 at the time, pleaded guilty to blackmail and spent nearly 10 months in pre-sentence detention.

She has been jailed for three years and must serve two before being eligible for release on parole.

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