Woman Found Guilty of Sharing Data with Alleged Kidnapper

A woman was found guilty of releasing Service NSW data but will not be imprisoned despite the data being used in an alleged violent kidnapping for ransom.

Sira Elkheir shared the confidential information with her then-boyfriend Esau Namoa in February and March 2023, which included driver’s license details, residential addresses, and photographs.

Mr. Namoa is among a group of people accused of attempting to kidnap Peter Vuong on March 1 from his residence with his girlfriend Angel Bowyer in Smithfield.

He suffered injuries, including lacerations and a broken eye socket.

Eight days later, Mr. Vuong was kidnapped for real.

The group of men broke into his home using a sledgehammer and a pistol, held Mr. Vuong captive, transported him to another property, and demanded ransom from his associate Tran Dinh, according to police evidence in the case.

Mr. Namoa has not yet entered a plea for the kidnapping charges.

The information provided by Ms. Elkheir included the driver’s license details of Mr. Vuong’s father, his date of birth, residential address, and driver’s license photos of Mr. Dinh and his wife Anna.

Police located and rescued Mr. Vuong on March 14.

In a recorded conversation in a hotel room on April 6, Mr. Namoa allegedly expressed remorse for involving his girlfriend in the scheme.

“As a man, I’ve messed up by getting you involved in this,” he supposedly said.

“All I did was search. OK, that’s all I did,” Ms. Elkheir replied.

The 22-year-old appeared in Parramatta Local Court on Wednesday, where she was found guilty and given an 18-month good behavior bond and 30 hours of community service.

Due to her early guilty plea to one charge of unauthorized access to restricted data on a computer, Magistrate Stephen Barlow reduced her sentence by 25%.

Her lawyer, Greg Stanton, argued that Ms. Elkheir should only be penalized for unlawfully accessing the information, not for the subsequent events.

Mr. Barlow agreed, stating that there was no evidence that she was aware of the potential consequences.

Mr. Stanton mentioned that his client had a clean record and came from a challenging background.

The magistrate acknowledged Ms. Elkheir’s previously unblemished character and work history in customer service roles at Chemist Warehouse and Service NSW.

However, he emphasized the community’s expectation that government-held data would only be used for legitimate reasons.

Ms. Elkheir had made multiple unauthorized accesses to the databases, indicating the seriousness of the incident, according to the magistrate.

After spending five days in custody, she expressed remorse and regret for her actions, Mr. Barlow mentioned.

She had ended her relationship with Mr. Namoa and showed understanding of her wrongdoing.

The magistrate opted not to impose a prison sentence, noting that none of the 36 other offenders charged with the same crime over the past four years had been incarcerated.

Ms. Elkheir left the court without speaking to reporters, escorted by her legal team and supporters, and driven away in a waiting car.