Jacintha Saldanha, the British nurse at the center of an Australian radio prank call is reported to have blamed two 2Day FM DJs for her death.
Quoting “sources close to the family” Saldanha, the UK Mail on Sunday said DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian had been blamed in one of Ms Saldanha’s three apparent suicide notes.
Saldanha, 46, was found dead in her accommodation at King Edward VII hospital days after she took a call from Greig and Christian. She Saldanha is believed to have taken her own life.
The DJs called the hospital, imitating Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles and asking after the Duchess of Cambridge, who was in the hospital with severe morning sickness.
Saldanha reportedly wrote three letters; one expressed deep anger at the presenters and blamed them for her death. The Mail on Sunday also reported that either Greig or Christian called Saldanha within an hour of the hoax call and told her that there had been a hoax and they planned to broadcast the call.
That report is at odds with the pair’s claims in subsequent interviews last week that they were not responsible for the call being broadcast.
“We just made the phone call and that was it. We don’t get to make those decisions, we don’t get to make those calls, that’s done by other people. Our role is just to record and get the audio and wait to be told whether it’s OK or not OK,” Christian told A Current Affair.
A 2Day FM source last week accused Greig and Christian of “playing dumb” and that they would have known of the protocols around broadcasting prank calls.
The Mail on Sunday reported that the second call to Saldanha – telling her of the hoax – left her feeling agitated and confused.
One of Saldanha’s other handwritten notes was addressed to her employer and critical of staff there. While the hospital has said that no senior staff blamed her for connecting the call to the ward where the Duchess was staying, the newspaper said it asked a family friend if Saldanha was given a “ticking-off”.
The friend replied: “What do you think?”
