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Guest Character Profiles > Gareth Bateman Jack Pearson

When nurse Freya Wozniak's boyfriend Gareth Bateman disappeared from her life, he claimed that it was because he had witnessed something whilst doing his job at the courthouse, allowing her to believe that it involved the defendants in a gang trial and some corrupt cops. He told Freya that he had to disappear as his life was in danger and she knew that she couldn't contact the police about what had happened, believing that they were corrupt and it would only make matters worse. After searching for almost four months, Freya spotted Gareth in some photos at The Flamingo Bar at Lassiters Hotel, a venue that had been destroyed during a storm. She then turned up in Erinsborough, initially claiming that Gareth was her missing cousin, and growing closer to police constable Levi Canning, hoping that he might be able to help. When she finally told Levi the truth, he involved the anti-corruption commission, and Gareth was eventually tracked down to a caravan park.

Not wanting to get Freya's hopes up, Levi sent their friends Ned Willis and Harlow Robinson to check if it really was Gareth and, after comparing him to photos, they realised that it was. When they were caught snooping by Gareth's girlfriend, Emma McIver, Ned and Harlow quickly tried to leave, but then Gareth turned up. After Gareth found out that they were in contact with Freya, he claimed that she was crazy and that she was the reason that he'd had to go into hiding. He told them both Freya had been increasingly obsessed with him and had started stalking him, then, when he met Emma, Freya had lied that someone was breaking into her house and was going to attack her with a hunting knife. Harlow and Ned believed Gareth's story and reported back to Levi who, due to his closeness to Freya, wasn't quite as quick to believe the worse of her.

With a group of Ramsay Street residents, including Levi, Freya, Ned and Harlow, headed away to the River Bend retreat in the bush, Ned and Harlow were nervous about Freya joining them, now worried about what she was capable of. Completely unaware of what was being said about her behind her back, Freya joined the group for the trip, where, upon their arrival, they took a group photo for social media. Now aware that Freya was still looking for him, and had involved the police, Gareth used the photo to track her down, determined to stop her and completely silence Levi. After confronting Levi, Gareth shot him and left him for dead, before finding Freya and forcing her to drive off in the minibus. There, Freya found out that Gareth was actually involved with the gang, not trying to escape from them, and that he'd been helping them out at the courthouse, giving them jury notes to help them win their trial. They were now protecting him and the involvement of Levi was putting everything at risk. The situation soon spiralled out of control when Aaron Brennan, who'd been hiding in the back of the bus, attempted to stop Gareth when he got out to change a tyre. Gareth managed to get the upper hand and ended up beating Aaron to near death, forcing Freya to then drive off again.

As they continued down the country road, the bus suffered a blowout and when Levi then staggered into the road, Freya swerved and crashed, causing Gareth to go through the windscreen. With Aaron's husband Dr David Tanaka on his way to the retreat, he found Aaron by the road and helped him into the car, before stopping again when he found Freya, Levi and Gareth. As Amy Greenwood then drove Levi and Aaron to River Bend's main building to get medical help, Freya and David remained with Gareth, who was struggling to breathe. When Freya told David exactly who Gareth was, and that he'd been the one to beat up Aaron, David made the spontaneous decision to withhold care and leave him to die. This decision would continue to haunt Freya and David for weeks afterwards as they were blackmailed by Oscar Russell and finally confessed, leading to them both losing their jobs and being charged.

Episodes Featured
8798, 8800, 8801, 8802

Biography by Steve

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