Former best friends: Camilla Zeidan (right) is accused of inventing ‘Brayden’ Spiteri to catfish ex-girlfriend Renae (left)
The ex-lover accused of catfishing hairdresser Renae Marsden before she took her own life told police the final text she received from the suicide victim said: ‘I’ll always love you’.
But Camila Zeidan told police she ‘accidentally’ deleted the 20-year-old’s last message when she tried to forward it to the victim’s mother.
A coronial inquest into the bizarre circumstances leading up to the 20-year-old’s August 2013 suicide death heard Ms Zeidan told a police officer she didn’t think that the suicide victim’s situation ‘was serious’ when she received the message.
But that afternoon, Camila allegedly messaged the young woman’s mother while under the guise of Renae’s fake boyfriend Brayden Spiteri, an identity the court has heard she concocted.
The text warned Renae’s mother to Teresa to ‘sort your daughter out’ as she was suicidal.
The coroner is investigating whether Renae had learned that she had been ‘catfished’ by her former best friend before she died at The Gap, in Sydney’s east.
Camila Zeidan, in ‘Soho’ shirt, claims she deleted the final text message she received from Renae Marsden ‘accidentally’ – but NSW police today took aim at her statements in court
The inquest has heard that ‘Brayden Spiteri’ was a concocted to ‘catfish’ Renae Marsden. A picture she had of the alleged man is above
The second day of the inquest into the ‘bubbly’ hairdresser’s death saw Detective Senior Constable Brett Bell brand statements Camila provided to police 20 days after her friends death as ‘incorrect’ and as making ‘no sense’.
A statement tendered to the inquest described Camila’s interview with an officer at Paddington Police Station on August 25, 2013.
The officer asked to see the final message Renae had sent Camila, but she said she had deleted it.
Asked why, Camila said: ‘I don’t know, my phone does that sometimes, I was trying to send it to (the girl’s mother) Teresa but it deleted it instead’.
She told the officer Renae had texted her ‘something like, ‘you’ll always be my best friend, I’ll always love you, hope one day you’ll forgive me’.
‘She further stated she did not think the message was serious’.
But about 3pm that afternoon, ‘Brayden’ texted Renae’s mother saying ‘sort your daughter out, (she’s) threatening to kill herself’.
Counsel assisting the inquest Sasha Harding asked police investigator Brent Bell if that was ‘possibly incongruous?’
Mr Bell told the inquest: ‘Yes, I wouldn’t believe that to be correct because it was enough for Brayden’s phone to message that there was a threat to kill herself, yes’.
Renae Marsden’s parents Theresa and Mark, with their daughter Monique, speaking to media outside the inquest
Camila also claimed to police that she had met Renae’s boyfriend once at The Brewery, a pub in Windsor, in Sydney’s north-west, and that he had long hair.
‘It’s my opinion that never occurred,’ Mr Bell said, adding that Camila’s description of Brayden was different to the pictures of him that Renae had in her possession.
Camila’s claims to police that Renae had got a SIM card for Brayden also came under scrutiny.
Camila claimed to officers that Renae had wanted to buy Brayden a SIM card, but couldn’t buy one at the store because she had no identification.
Camila claimed that’s why her contact details were associated with Brayden’s SIM card.
But Officer Bell said that explanation ‘doesn’t make sense’ as prepaid SIMs don’t require identification to purchase from a store, only upon registration online.
Camila was in court on Tuesday with her father, as were Renae’s mother, Teresa, father, Mark and extended family.
The magistrate presiding over the inquest, Elaine Truscott, apologised to Camila and her family for harrowing scenes that occurred outside court on Monday.
A friend of Camila’s fell over in a media scrum and members of Renae’s family screamed at Camila and her supporters as they ran to their car.
Camila’s lawyer, Brett Longville, told the court it was ‘quite unsavoury’, leading Ms Truscott to ‘extend my apologies’ to the family.
‘I did not subpoena her to be pilloried by any member of the community and to have to run a gauntlet of media,’ the magistrate said.
The inquest continues.