The Sydney mum who faked having cancer and received thousands of dollars in donations from generous strangers now claims she only did it out of fear from her violent partner. Elizabeth Edmunds, who went by “Elle” online, told a court on Monday that her former partner John Heagney forced her to scam people.

In 2014, Edmunds had the world crying with her when she revealed she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in April. Apparently, her stage 3 cancer had spread to her lungs, leaving her with just three years more to live. The 31-year-old mother of six even documented her battle with the disease online, shaving her head in preparation for her chemotherapy sessions.

Her sad story caught the attention of a lot of people, including Jessica McKay, who set up a fundraising page for her, and Roberta Williams, the former wife of murdered Melbourne crime boss Carl Williams. Roberta organised a $150/pax charity dinner at The Menzies in Sydney for Edmunds, but fortunately, the event didn’t push through. Nevertheless, a lot of people donated money for the cancer-ridden mum through McKay’s fundraising page and through donation tins that were placed at local shops.

It was later on revealed that Edmunds didn’t have cancer and wasn’t dying in three years. Heagney, her partner, said even he was deceived. He was told that she was suffering from the disease, only to find out that that wasn’t the case at all. The police investigated but did not arrest her. Both McKay and Roberta expressed their anger at Edmunds for her deception, with McKay diverting the funds collected for Edmunds to the Cancer Council Australia instead.

When asked why she faked her illness, Edmunds told the Daily Telegraph in November, “I’ve got extremely serious mental health issues.” She has a different answer now, though.

She told Belmont Local Court at a hearing where Heagney faced assault charges that it was not her idea to scam people with her fake cancer story. According to her, she only did it because Heagney forced her, threatening her life if she didn’t comply. Heagney was devastated not because he found out she fooled him, but because they had been found out.

“It was his documentation, doctors. It was his plan. I went through with it because I was in fear. He tried to kill me, many a time,” Edmunds told the court, as quoted by the Daily Mail. She added that her former partner attempted to kill her and had beaten her on two occasions on Oct. 20 and Nov. 17 in 2014.

Heagney denied the accusations, saying Edmunds was a self-harmer who threatened to kill herself during an argument. Nevertheless, he was found guilty of assault occasioning bodily harm against Edmunds relating to the Nov. 17 incident. He is set to be sentenced on Feb. 20.