As doting Melbourne parents cradled their dying baby daughter, a "predator" was trying to extort $1000 from them over a lost phone containing precious images of her.
Malaysian woman Siti Nurhidayah Kamal saw an opportunity when she came across Jay Windross's Facebook post, urging the return of his wife Dee's phone for a cash reward.
Mrs Windross had lost her phone at a shopping centre on April 20. It contained hundreds of irreplaceable family pictures of their 11-month-old daughter Amiyah.
Three days later, Kamal contacted Mr Windross claiming she had the device and would return it for $1000.
As Amiyah breathed through her final moments, Kamal was badgering Mr Windross with messages.
She threatened to sell it or delete the images if he didn't pay, even though she never had the phone.
In total, 158 communications were recorded between Kamal and Mr Windross in his effort to retrieve the phone in the hours before and after Amiyah's death from an undiagnosed neurological condition.
"You, a mother yourself, devised a plan to extort money from a family that was already at their lowest point they could possibly be in their lives," Mr Windross said, in a statement read in the County Court on Thursday.
"You took moments away from the last opportunity I could have with my breathing daughter to negotiate and threaten me with a phone you never had.
"I don't think there is a word in the English dictionary that describes you as a person. You are a predator."
Mrs Windross said the stolen memories could never be replaced.
"You ripped my hope from me, you ripped my ability to trust others from me, and you did that on purpose during the last hours I had with my daughter before she was ripped from my life forever," she said in her statement.
Defence lawyer Rahmin de Krester conceded the crime was "entirely opportunistic".
The 25-year-old, who has two children in Malaysia, arrived in Australia with her husband in September last year.
She came on a bridging visa and struggled to make ends meet as an Uber Eats delivery rider.
Mr de Krester said Kamal had written letters of apology to the Windrosses and her guilty plea to blackmail indicated her remorse.
"She's done the wrong thing," Mr de Krester said.
"It was a cruel and criminal hoax that took advantage of these people when they were at their lowest."
Judge Liz Gaynor said Kamal's "horrendous" crimes were "almost unimaginable" for the Windrosses to endure.
"It's an exploitation of two people who are vulnerable and desperate, to regain possession of something that's very precious to them. It's a devastating loss," she said.
Kamal, who wept during the hearing, has been in custody since her arrest in April. She was remanded until February pending a further psychiatric report.
The phone hasn't been found.
