The young woman found wandering in a “confused and distressed state” by gardaí outside the GPO was last night in the process of returning to her native Australia and is being accompanied by Garda officers.
Samantha Azzopardi (25) was at the centre of an extensive Garda operation at home and internationally to ascertain her identity after it was initially suspected she was a young teenager and a victim of human trafficking.
The woman had been in the custody of the gardaí and the HSE since October 10th but nobody had been able to communicate with her. She was thought to have been of European descent with only a broken level of English.
A senior Garda source last night said the Garda had now come to the conclusion that all of this was “a charade” which was dispensed with once a public appeal and the release of her photograph on Tuesday led to the establishment of her true identity.
A statement from the Garda last night said they were “facilitating” the return of Ms Azzopardi to Australia “in consultation with all of the relevant authorities . . . with a view to reuniting her with her family and the authorities in Australia”.
Yesterday at the High Court, Mr Justice George Birmingham formally discharged all previous orders made by the court in respect of the woman, including orders allowing the HSE to keep her in their care. After this point, Ms Azzopardi was “a free woman” and it’s understood she volunteered to return to Australia.
The Garda investigation into the matter – dubbed Operation Shepard – involved over 2,000 man hours while some 115 lines of inquiry were followed up on. The Garda are understood to be frustrated by the waste of time and resources that went into ascertaining the identity of a woman they believed for almost a month was a vulnerable young teenager.
It’s understood the State has paid for the woman’s flights and she will be accompanied on the journey by gardaí. “This is for her safety. Obviously she is a vulnerable young woman who has issues and difficulties in life so we are facilitating her travel.”
The Garda are “liaising closely” with the federal police in Australia and there are arrangements in place for her family to meet her at the airport.
