A homeless Sydney woman was doused with acid at least three weeks before police found her with her skin peeling off, an inquest has heard.
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Monika Chetty was 39 when she died in hospital in January 2014 from complications following acid burns to 80 per cent of her body after she was found in a western Sydney park.
Police recently offered a $500,000 reward for any information regarding the circumstances surrounding her death.
Due to her "serious burns" visual identification was not possible but a DNA sample established her identity.
After leaving her family and living on the streets and on the porch of a West Hoxton house she was frequently seen walking into the bush with garbage bags full of clothes.
An anonymous caller in January 2014 notified police of a woman who appeared to have burns all over her body sleeping in the bushes, while her clothes were spread across a fence.
"She's not young ... she just looks mistreated," the caller said.
The woman who was sleeping in the bushes always had her head down and seemed depressed, she said. She became friendly with a family and was allowed to sleep on their verandah intermittently.
Police soon found her with severe burns to her body causing her skin to turn black and peel off in different sections.
She told police she was sleeping in a park when someone approached her for money and cigarettes before dousing her with the chemical.
In a police interview while bandaged in hospital, she said she was curled up on a park bench when she was attacked.
She said she attended hospital but there were no beds, but due to the extent of her injuries it is unlikely she was turned away, counsel assisting the coroner Christine Melis said.
After clinging onto life for four weeks Ms Chetty passed away.
Ms Chetty had 127 loans out but had paid back more than $81,000, the inquest heard.
She became homeless and distanced from her family after her gambling addiction led to the breakdown of her marriage.
She later told a social worker: "Someone poured something on me after I didn't give them money".
Her nurses quizzed her about previous burns, which she boiled down to frying eggs and other cooking misdemeanours.
After acid was poured onto her she was still using public transport and begging for money in a hospital.
Diary entries show her new boyfriend "baby" started out as supportive, but she recorded paying him $10,000.
The inquest continues.
Australian Associated Press
