A mysterious girl who was found wandering around O’Connell Street looking dazed and confused has been identified as Australian con artist Samantha Azzopardi.
According to the Belfast Telegraph, Azzopardi has a string of convictions and fraud offences attached to her name in Australia.
Azzopardi apparently has over 40 different aliases and is well known to police from New South Wales. She has also been found in circumstances very much like the way she was found in Dublin.
The investigation to uncover her identity has apparently cost the Irish State over €200,000. Gardai are now looking into whether to charge her with wasting police time.
Gardai have also ordered a psychiatric evaluation of Azzopardi and a court will decide if she is to stay in the care of authorities. Sources have claimed that she does have mental health issues.
A senior security source said: “She is an international woman of mystery, a scam artist, who we now believe is involved in some sort of bizarre ruse which may explain why she did not want her picture released by the gardai.
“She has done this kind of thing before. This is a ‘catch me if you can’ scenario although it is accepted that she has psychiatric issues.”
Sources have also revealed that Azzopardi arrived in Ireland to visit relatives in Clonmel about three weeks before she was found in Dublin.
Due to the confusion surrounding her when she was found and her refusal to speak to the authorities, Gardai initially thought Azzopardi was a victim of trafficking.
