With her dark hair, big sunglasses, oversized handbag, and striped Country Road T-shirt, Elia Papillo looks like any other time-poor twenty-something woman out to run errands.
But what hides her new ‘plain Jane’ look – particularly her unflattering baggy linen trousers – is a story of alleged bullying so terrifying it has been dubbed Australia’s real-life ‘reindeer baby’.
Because on Papillo’s left ankle is an electronic tag that tracks his every move as he prepares to appear in court next year on accusations that he violated a sentencing order by relentlessly stalking several people, including a man with whom He had a brief romantic relationship with his new partner.
In fact, the 25-year-old former student support worker of Salisbury, a quiet suburb of Adelaideis to the north, Now she seems like a completely different woman than when she started committing crimes.
Back then, in mid-2021, she sported long, carefully brushed blonde hair and worked as a teaching assistant at nearby Holy Family Catholic School, where her mother teaches kindergarten.
A photo of Papillo taken in March 2022, while she was in the middle of a campaign of harassment for which she would later plead guilty, shows her beaming in a baby blue sundress and lace-up wedges on her feet and, more importantly, , without supervision. device in view.
The disturbing crimes she was originally accused of appeared to have been inspired by Martha, the antagonist of the hit Netflix show that captivated global audiences earlier this year.
They include allegedly faking a pregnancy and miscarriage, creating dozens of fake social media profiles in the names of the victims’ friends and family, falsely accusing the victim of sexual misconduct, and claiming she had cancer to scam her out of $1,000.
With her dark hair, big sunglasses, oversized handbag and striped Country Road T-shirt, Elia Papillo (pictured) looks like any other time-poor twenty-something woman out and about. some errands
But what her new Plain Jane look hides is a history of alleged bullying so terrifying she has been dubbed Australia’s ‘baby reindeer’. Because on Papillo’s left ankle is an electronic tag (seen here) that tracks his every move as he prepares to appear in court next year on accusations that he relentlessly harassed several people, including a man with the who had left briefly.
Last year, Elizabeth Magistrates Court, north of Adelaide, also heard Papillo bombarded his victim with unwanted packages and gifts, sent explicit messages or threats to 100 of her friends and family and listed him as her contact emergency with SA Health.
But perhaps most chilling of all, he allegedly created a fake memorial page for a deceased friend of the victim’s family.
The page, which used photographs of the deceased, was a ploy to control the life of its victim.
The court also heard she created fake professional pages on social media to trick a photography company into providing her with photographs of her ex-boyfriend and his new partner which had been taken with her consent.
Papillo pleaded guilty in November last year to one count of harassment, one count of dishonest handling of documents and two counts of bail jumping, according to the Adelaide Advertiser.
Prosecutors accepted those charges as representative of his general conduct and the other charges were dropped.
He was given a suspended sentence with a $1,000 good behavior bond and was prohibited from contacting any of his victims, either directly or indirectly.
His provisional teaching license was also canceled a couple of months earlier, according to the Teacher Registration Board of South Australia.
A photo of Papillo (right) taken in March 2022, while she was in the middle of a harassment campaign for which she would later plead guilty, shows her beaming in a baby blue sundress and lace-up wedges on her feet, and Importantly, there is no surveillance device in sight. The other woman shown is not involved in the harassment allegations.
But he now faces a second trial after allegedly violating his bail conditions almost immediately by repeatedly contacting the victim and her close friends and family, as well as allegedly harassing another man.
It is alleged that just two weeks after his conviction, he filed a formal complaint with his victim’s employer, falsely accusing him of sexual misconduct.
The complaint was investigated and dismissed but remains on his permanent record.
Papillo was arrested for the fourth time in June of this year.
At the time, police allege she had briefly dated another man whom she subsequently harassed.
Papillo’s lawyers have reportedly said that the first three harassment charges he faces will be “firmly defended.”
While he awaits his trial, his freedom is only guaranteed by strict bail conditions.
These include surrendering your passport, wearing the ankle monitoring device and mandatory home detention, except in exceptional circumstances, such as a doctor’s appointment or visiting your lawyer.
He is also prohibited from using any device with Internet access and trying to talk to his alleged victims or getting closer than 100 meters to them.
Papillo’s provisional teaching license was also canceled a couple of months earlier, according to the South Australian Teachers Registration Board (pictured: his school photo).
It is alleged that just two weeks after his conviction, Papillo filed a formal complaint with his victim’s employer, falsely accusing him of sexual misconduct.
His parents had to post $10,000 bail and the entire family, including his older sister, had to promise to ban all smart devices in their three-bedroom, $750,000 family home.
This means they cannot access Wi-Fi in their own home.
Papillo was seen visiting her lawyer’s offices in Adelaide’s CBD on Tuesday last week for a 30-minute meeting.
He stepped out into the sunlight with a worried expression on his face and hurriedly spoke to someone on the phone before rushing home.
At a bail hearing last month, the prosecutor spoke of the panic and fear Papillo’s alleged victims have faced.
“The very nature of the crime of harassment, particularly online harassment, is that it is insidious and much more difficult to stop or protect against,” the prosecutor told South Africa’s Supreme Court.
‘This type of crime is invasive and there is no escaping it. The complainants in this matter simply cannot mobilize states to protect them due to the online nature of this crime.’
This post does not name the victims to protect their privacy.
Papillo was seen visiting her lawyer’s offices in Adelaide’s CBD on Tuesday last week for a 30-minute meeting.
He stepped out into the sunlight with a worried expression on his face and hurriedly spoke to someone on the phone before rushing home.
However, this is not the Papillo family’s first experience with the criminal justice system.
In 2015, Papillo’s father, Ron, was fined nearly $30,000 after pleading guilty to threatening and abusing Environmental Protection Authority staff on several occasions.
Papillo, who ran an earthmoving business, abused officers who attempted to inspect his property for illegal waste storage.
‘I’ve been arrested before. I have guns,” Papillo allegedly told an officer who came to inspect his property.
‘I don’t like to be bothered. Get out of my place and stop looking at my things.
‘They locked me up because there are people on my property. I have taken out my weapons for that.
His daughter is prohibited from possessing a firearm under the conditions of her bail.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Papillo’s lawyers for comment.