A tradie has broken his silence after learning his face was used to ‘catfish’ a woman who tragically ended her life when she learned her boyfriend wasn’t real.
Camila Zeidan allegedly deceived her best friend and former lover Renae Marsden, 20, into believing she had a boyfriend, ‘Brayden Spiteri’, in a catfishing scandal that ran from 2011 to 2013.
‘Catfishing’ – the practice of creating fictional online love personas – is not a criminal offence in New South Wales.
Camila, 27, told her friend that Brayden was her ex-boyfriend who was supposedly behind bars over a motorcycle accident where his best friend had died.
To make her story more convincing, she showed Renae a photo of her with the man she said was Brayden.
But the man behind the photo has come forward as tradesman Cameron Lang who had no idea his face was used in the scandal until he saw it on the news.
The man behind the photo has come forward as tradesman Cameron Lang who had no idea his face was used in the scandal until he saw it on the news
‘It’s daunting … [I’m] shocked in a way because I’ve now got an image put out there that’s an image no one wants to be associated with,’ he told A Current Affair.
While Cameron confirmed it was him in the photo, he has no memory of meeting Camila.
‘It is me in the photo, but I personally had nothing to do with any of the girls. Either of them. Just my face was used.’
He said the photo was likely taken at a bar or club during a night out many years ago.
‘I don’t remember ever meeting (Camila) anywhere, at any point.’
While Cameron (left) confirmed it was him in the photo, he has no memory of meeting Camila (right)
‘Renae’s mother Teresa Marsden said she would never forgive herself.
Renae was last seen leaving her home in Glenhaven, Sydney, on August 5, 2013.
It is believed she drove to the The Gap in Sydney’s eastern suburbs before throwing her phone into the ocean and taking her own life. Her body has never been found.
‘Renae’s mother Teresa Marsden said she would never forgive herself.
‘I felt like my job as a mum – I was supposed to protect her an I failed her. That’s something I have to live with. I would never have let her go.’
‘Brayden’ was a concoction of Camila’s (right), Coroner Elaine Truscott was told earlier this month at an inquest into Renae’s (left) suicide at The Gap in August 2013
Brayden’ was a concoction of Camila’s, Coroner Elaine Truscott was told earlier this month at an inquest into Renae’s suicide.
The court heard Camila and Renae were in a relationship at school, at Mount St Benedict College in Sydney’s north west, when they were in Year 10 in 2008.
The court heard Camila and Renae (pictured) were in a relationship at school in 2008.
Camila denied her relationship with Renae was ‘obsessive’. But Ms Harding pointed to emails Camila sent to Renae that year to argue the opposite.
One email said: ‘I swear to God kid, you r going no where, do you understand, you abuse me, I’ll laugh, you kill me, I’ll be your ghost, you hate me, I’ll still love you, run away, chase you; you hide, I’ll hunt you down… Only I’ll own you … I’m too in love with u and too obsessed with you and crazy about you baby.’
Renae and Camila’s relationship fell apart after school. But the inquest heard evidence from Renae’s mother of Camila engaging in behaviour ‘like stalking’ of Renae in the years that followed.
Teresa Marsden claimed in an affidavit that Camila would lurk at the top of the driveway in her car (Camila denies that) and follow her (which she also denies).
In one evening, Camila allegedly bombarded Renae with 54 missed calls in the one evening, the inquest heard.
In a Facebook message, Renae told Camila: ‘I had 54 calls last night Camila. That’s f***ed. I’m sorry, but that’s possessive.
In one evening, Camila (left, in green) allegedly bombarded Renae (left and white, and right) with 54 missed calls in the one evening, the inquest heard
‘If you can’t see that then there is something terribly wrong with you’.
Camila told the inquest: ‘I probably did try and talk to her … I don’t know what was going on at the time… It works both ways’.
Ms Harding claimed to the inquest that Camila had used ‘Brayden’ as a tool to break up Renae and her boyfriend after Camila, Angus Young. (Camila denies this.)
‘Camila as the ‘Brayden identity asserted mental control over Renae… Brayden sought to limit and sour Renae’s social life,’ Ms Harding said in her closing address.
‘(Meanwhile) for nearly two years, (Renae) dedicated her mental and emotional life to Brayden.’
The Marsden family pictured talking to media at the end of day three of the Renae Marsden inquest, NSW State Coroner’s Court on February 12
‘(Renae’s) life was on hold, lived via her mobile phone, receiving and sending incessant messages to a fictional person.’
It is not clear whether Renae herself learned she was allegedly being ‘catfished’ prior to her death.
Police investigators told the inquest Renae had called Goulburn prison for 90 seconds at 2.44pm that afternoon.
An operator would have told Renae there was no one by that name at the prison, Detective Senior Constable Brent Bell told the court.
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