While the inquest heard evidence Chetty “was involved in activities and had associations which would give rise to persons having motive and opportunity to cause harm to her”, how she was burned and who burned her remained unknown.

The only recommendation made by Truscott, the former deputy state coroner who heard the inquest’s evidence in late 2020, was that police continued to investigate the unsolved homicide.

“I truly regret that this inquest has not been able to resolve the many questions about Monika’s death and has brought no person to justice,” Truscott said.

The inquest found Chetty, a former nurse who separated from her husband in 2009 due to financial woes stemming from her gambling problem that was significant by 2005, was likely attacked three weeks before entering hospital.

Despite her burns being deemed as non-survivable, she told doctors she wanted to be kept alive.

While her wish could not be granted, police discovered she had likely kept herself alive for weeks after suffering the burns. She was seen in public throughout December 2013 with tracksuits and bandages covering her burns, catching buses, hosing herself off and asking for money.

But it was far from the first time she was burnt.

Throughout 2012 and 2013, family and friends saw various burns on Chetty, which she blamed on accidents caused by cooking, a coal radiator, or having her hand stuck in the car bonnet.

After her separation, she fell on hard times and became homeless. She became embroiled in a fake visa scam where Indian students would pay her thousands of dollars in exchange for visas that never eventuated.

Truscott said Chetty “owed a lot of money over the years and was always in need of repayment”. Between August 16, 2010 and December 11, 2013 Chetty made 205 deposits into 15 bank accounts totalling $184,000. Police don’t know where the money went. In 2012, she underwent chemotherapy for breast cancer but did not attend the hospital for pre-arranged surgery in December.

By 2013, she was living in her car. By the end of the year, she had no car and was living in bushland close to where she was found burnt.

Before her death, Chetty regularly pawned jewellery at Smart Cash Loans, a Fairfield pawn store.

She spent a lot of time with its co-owners Sadma Begum, her husband Messrs Olariu and their daughter Mosmeen Mohammed, whom she met in 2007. They lived near the bushland where she was found. She sometimes slept on their verandah and they tended to her wounds. Chetty referred to Begum as “aunty” or “mum”.

In 2010, she wrote in her diary that she owed Begum money and needed to pay her $500 a week. Around the same time, she wrote entries about “babe” or “baby,” referring to a man called “Nick Cha”. The inquest, however, found no evidence of this man existing or them meeting if he did.

Begum, Olariu, Mohammed, “Cha” and Chetty’s ex-husband have not been charged over the death and there is no suggestion they were involved.

In a statement to the court, Chetty’s sister, Mohini Prasad, shared how her family struggled with two sudden losses when her 83-year-old father suffered a heart attack following Chetty’s death.

In his own statement, her son Daniel said how deeply he misses his mother.

“My life has not been the same since she left us,” he said.

“The one thing I miss the most is saying I love you and knowing I’ll hear it back”.

Ahead of the inquest starting in 2020, the NSW government announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for Chetty’s death.