Samantha Azzopardi: On the street with no name

A face without a name, a present without a past.

Since a girl, now known to be Australian woman Samantha Azzopardi, was discovered in a distressed state on Dublin’s O’Connell St last month, gardaí have been looking to fill in the blanks.

That path led to the High Court, where permission was given to issue a photograph of the girl, who at first was believed to be from Eastern Europe and a potential victim of child trafficking. Even with that imprimatur, gardaí had to weigh up a number of concerns, not least that she was obviously in a vulnerable state and subject of a care order. The decision to issue a picture was vindicated when relatives made contact with gardaí in what has been a unique and trying case.