After seven weeks and nearly a million streams, we have finally reached the last episode of Finding Samantha.
Throughout each week, RTÉ Documentary On One worked tirelessly to take us into the world of Samantha Azzopardi. We learned about her 100-plus aliases, her acts of fraud and deception, and the damage she inflicted on her innocent victims.
But how well do we know "Australia's greatest con girl"? No matter what punishment the justice system has inflicted on Samantha, she has continued to re-offend, but why?
This week, the podcast delves deeper into the motivating forces behind Samantha’s actions. It examines her turbulent childhood, whether or not her behaviour can change, and where she is now, or at least where we left her.
It also includes one final interaction between our protagonist and reporter Sharon Davis. This episode will be our most intense yet.
If you’re ready, please read on for the full catch-up of episode seven: Who is Samantha?
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This episode covers mental health issues and childhood trauma, so it might be best for some listeners to sit this one out.
Picton Court
In May 2021, Samantha left prison after serving less than two years for child stealing. By November, she resurfaced as 15-year-old cult member Eleanor Harris. The police quickly deduced that Eleanor was 33-year-old Samantha Azzopardi, and soon she was back in court. Sharon went to Picton court in Sydney, where the trial was being held.
The judge eventually sentenced Samantha to a three-year community corrections order. It dictated that she undergo a mental health assessment and psychological help. Before Samantha's sentence was handed down Sharon approached her in a coffee shop. She wanted one last shot at an interview.
"I handed her my card, and said here’s my card if you want to contact me, and then I left" - Sharon Davis.
The Nanny
Spoiler alert: Samantha did not comply with the court's orders. Instead, she accepted a job as a nanny to the family of Theresa Power. The family thought they were hiring 19-year-old Polish woman Mayer Melecka, who had been minding children since she was 14.
"One of the first things she said to me when we spoke was, 'Oh, I'm so relieved you're a real person. I thought maybe you were a fraudster. Because there are so many fraudsters on these Facebook groups.’", says Power. When Mayer (Samantha) failed to show up for her second week of work - the family grew concerned. Then they stumbled across a newspaper article….
To find out what happened next, you need to hit play above.
But let’s just say it involved a nine-hour police chase.
"She was supposed to come and work for us at 10 o'clock in the morning, and according to the newspaper reports, she was arrested at 10:30 that morning." - Theresa Power
Australia’s greatest con girl
Nobody has ever discovered where Samantha gets her money. We know there were stolen credit cards and possible ties to Russia, but nothing was ever conclusively proven. But there have been multiple psychological reports conducted by the Australian courts. To be precise, there are 24,000 pages of documents on Samantha. To try and figure out once and for all what is going on inside our protagonist's head, the podcast appealed to Magistrate Ross Hudson, who adjudicated Samantha’s 100th criminal charge.
Within a few days, the Magistrate released two key psychological reports he used for his deliberations. Throughout Samantha’s life, the most common diagnosis she received was severe borderline personality disorder. However, a big point of contention between experts has been whether she knew what she was doing. In this week’s episode, the podcast unpacks what borderline personality disorder looks like and how it impacts sufferers.
"Nobody does something like that, because they're happy. And it seemed to me that what we were seeing was that there were all kinds of other levels of pain that were peeping out" - Shane Dunphy, child protection expert.
Family ties
In this episode, listeners get a clearer picture of Samantha’s childhood. We learned in a previous episode that her parents separated when she was young, but there was a lot left to uncover. According to some accounts, Samantha would become distressed at school, especially when her parents were present. One report noted that: "Samantha had suffered severe physical abuse at the hands of her mother. It says her mother confirmed that she previously "nearly killed Sam"."
Pic: NCA NewsWire
When Samantha was 17, she entered a mental health facility and was diagnosed with severe depression with borderline personality disorder. After this, she never returned to school. Later during her 2020 case for child stealing, she was diagnosed with pseudologia fantastica. The condition, the court was told, is a symptom of a severe personality disorder that developed due to her "horrific childhood". It is a rare "clinical psychiatric presentation and refers to an extreme type of lying that is internally motivated"; and often linked to an underdeveloped sense of self.
"Samantha had suffered severe physical abuse at the hands of her mother. It says her mother confirmed that she previously "nearly killed Sam", and also seriously assaulted her on a number of occasions." - Sharon Davis.
What happens now?
It is clear that Samantha suffered a great deal throughout her life, but that does not negate the pain she has caused. Many of her victims just want her to get help. Pastor Brad Blacker, from episode two, said: "I really hope that she learns to be safe in her own skin and can be comfortable being Samantha". Pathological lying conditions like pseudologia fantastica are largely misunderstood in the mental health field. Professionals who have encountered Samantha feel comprehensive therapy and coping strategies for her anxiety could be the answer. But first, she must engage.
"What if someone, like Samantha, refuses to engage, refuses to get or take help. What then? Can they be forced into treatment?" - Nicoline Greer.
And finally... a word from Samantha
Across the series, we’ve heard numerous opinions about Samantha. But she has a voice. Her psychiatric reports gave the series creators an insight into her perspective. She said she valued family and trustworthy friends but has none. She is close with her father, hates trouble and always wants to appease others. "I want to get my life back on track and put all this stuff behind me, so I know I need some help to make that happen." That’s from a report in 2022, since that time, she has reoffended.
Today, Samantha is 34 and has been out of prison for six months. The team no longer knows where she is or what she is doing. But after her initial release something strange happened, she started directly communicating with Sharon on Facebook as herself.
To find out what happened next, listen to the final episode of Finding Samantha.
"She began talking to us on Facebook. No fake identities. No false stories. Just Samantha and Sharon communicating regularly…" - Nicoline Greer
Listen back to all episodes of Finding Samantha here.
