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Guest Character Profiles > Cassandra Freedman Tottie Goldsmith

Cassandra 'Cass' 'Sass' Jane Freedman (née Noble) 2009
Born: c. 1971 (later changed to c. 1966)
Marital Status: Matt (Divorced)
Children: Donna, Tegan and Simon

The flight, tarty, and often downright ruthless, mother of Donna, Simon and Tegan Freedman, Cassandra, known as Sass to those she considered friends or future conquests, turned up in Erinsborough having conned her way into the Salvation Army refuge at number 24. Though her arrival was seemingly innocent enough, it transpired that she had sent her youngest child, Tegan, along with brother Simon, to Erinsborough a few weeks earlier on the pretext of visiting their sister, Donna, who had stayed with her dad, Matt, after her parents' divorce, then moved in with Paul and Elle Robinson when Matt went on the run from the law. Tegan had been scoping out the residents of Ramsay Street, and had told her mum that Paul was rich and available. Almost as soon as she set foot on the street, Cassandra was busy alienating Donna and flirting with Paul, pretending to get her dress caught in her car door as she saw him coming, leaving her forced to strip to her underwear in front of him. A scammer himself, Paul quickly realised her game, but allowed himself to be seduced.

Despite her best efforts, however, Cass couldn't get Paul to give her an advertising sales job going at his newspaper, the Erinsborough News, but managed to walk into a trial position at the hospital as a receptionist. There, she learnt that Paul's friend and lodger, Sam Fitzgerald, who she saw as a threat, had bi-polar disorder. But as Cass was about to confront heavily pregnant Sam with this information, Sam blurted out that she had no idea that her ex-husband Dan wasn't the baby's father until earlier that day during a check-up. Realising that she'd just given Cass ammunition for blackmail, Sam agreed to try and convince Donna to give her mum a chance. Meanwhile, as Donna's boyfriend Ringo mistakenly believed that she'd been cheating on him with their friend Zeke Kinski, he moved out of the house he lodged in with Zeke's stepparents, and found himself invited to stay by Cass. With Donna becoming increasingly upset with her mum and her plans for Paul, and with Cass having both Paul and Sam on side, Donna was forced to move in with her mum, brother and sister.

When Cass arranged a date with Paul, Simon was determined that it wouldn't happen, as he didn't want to see his mum get walked all over by another man. He glued the doors to Paul's house shut, to make sure he'd miss the date, and Cass was upset, believing she'd been stood up. When Sam then came in, Cass was furious, believing that her man had been stolen away from her, but as they argued, the truth about the baby was overheard by Steph, whose best friend Libby was Dan's fiancee. Word soon got back to Dan, leaving Cass with no further ammunition for blackmail, but she was more concerned with winning Paul. Confused by his apparent rejection, Cass turned to Elle's boyfriend Lucas for advice. Lucas told her that the best way to win a Robinson was to pretend not to be interested, and soon they'd be desperately running back.

Cass decided to arrange a working bee, as her front garden needed some attention, in the hope that Paul might turn up. Her plan worked, and she then proceeded to ignore him, and was even more pleased when she learnt about Simon gluing Paul's doors shut, meaning that he didn't stand her up on purpose. As she continued seeing him in public and ignoring him, he eventually gave in and asked her out that evening. She agreed, as long as she could pick the movie and there was French Champagne involved, then proceeded to give him a taste of his own medicine by standing him up, leaving him sitting alone in the bar, humiliated. Cass' next plan to get close to Paul involved scoring an invite to the wedding of Libby and Dan, which Paul would be attending, by stealing the wedding outfits from the dry cleaners, then innocently turning up and offering her services to help make some new dresses, making sure Rebecca's was as frumpy as possible. The plan was a success, but the wedding went less smoothly, as Libby collapsed at the end and was rushed to hospital, with a shameless Cass taking a photo. With the wedding reception still going ahead with no bride and groom, Cass continued to make sure she had Paul's attention, showing him the photo and suggesting he use it in a newspaper article.

Elle, however, had realised that Rebecca was still in denial over her feelings for Paul, and succeeded in locking Cass in the storeroom at Harold's Store to give her dad some time alone with Rebecca. As that situation ended in Rebecca and Paul sleeping together, Cass saw her meal ticket slipping away and got in touch with Rebecca's ex, school principal Andrew Simpson, telling him how much Rebecca missed him and encouraging him to give things another try. The plan worked and Cass ended up being the one to break the news to Paul that Rebecca and Andrew had got back together, and Paul was soon inviting Cass back into his bed. Cass was then delighted to see that Rebecca and Andrew had become engaged, believing that she'd finally won the fight for Mr Robinson.

Meanwhile, Cass' attempts to be a good mother were failing, as she encouraged Tegan to look for a new man when her attempts to get Ringo's attention failed, whilst she told an upset Donna to play Ringo and Zeke off against each other until she decided which of them she wanted to be with. Cass then caused further problems for Tegan by encouraging her to shorten her school uniform to attract boys, but it only attracted bullying from Kyle Canning. Cass was then surprised to find that Tegan had put her altered uniform in the bin, and even more furious to learn that Donna, unable to cope with having two boys fighting over her, had gone to Tasmania to search for her dad. When Cass then altered Tegan's other uniform and the bullying continued, she was surprised to see that her daughter had altered it back, and confronted her. Having stood up to the bullies earlier that day, Tegan finally found the courage to stand up to her mum, telling her that everyone at school thought she was a joke, and she hated dressing like a tart - like her mum. A horrified Cass stormed out, telling Tegan that maybe when she was older, she'd understand why her mum wanted to look her best.

When Kyle and Zeke then helped Tegan with her chemistry project, and Cass found them and proceeded to flirt with an uncomfortable Kyle, Tegan was furious and said it was no wonder she had no friends when her mum behaved like that. She then blurted out that Simon had stolen an iPod and Paul had covered it up for him, and Cass was annoyed that her children seemed to be rebelling all over the place. After checking with Paul that her son wasn't in any serious trouble, Cass went to apologise to Simon and Tegan and bought them a chocolate cake to make up for things. But when Tegan went to tomboy Bridget Parker for fashion advice and ditched her mum's choice of dresses for a t-shirt and jeans, Cass was horrified, storming over to the Parker house and accusing Bridget of interfering. As Bridget tried to explain that Tegan just wanted to be herself and not attract boys, Cass pointed out to a pregnant Bridget that it obviously didn't work too well for her, and was promptly thrown out of the house by Bridget's appalled mother, Miranda.

When Steph and Rebecca were looking to get their own back on Toadie for an April Fool's prank by giving him a fake scratchcard, their plan backfired when Cass bought the joke card instead. Believing that she'd won $20,000, she went out and splurged on items including a flatscreen television, only to be told the truth by Rebecca. Certain that this was all a deliberate set-up by Rebecca, Cass decided to get her revenge and used Tegan to order her an alcoholic drink in the bar. Though Rebecca explained that she'd have to leave the drink at the bar, and Cass would have to take it herself, Tegan picked it up and a 'horrified' Cass announced that she'd be contacting the police to inform them about Rebecca serving a minor. Unfortunately, few people actually believed the story was true, and Cass found things going badly wrong as Paul turned against her, and Simon and Tegan realised that she'd gone too far and moved out, going to stay with their grandmother. Blaming Paul for everything, Cass sought revenge, first claiming to a sympathetic Steph that Paul had been sending her nasty emails, then publically accusing him of terrorising her and stealing from her. With Steph leading the way, various neighbours went to search his home and Paul was shocked when one of Cass' negligees was found in his briefcase.

Donna was immediately suspicious of her mum's motives, and decided to move in with her to keep a closer eye on things. Meanwhile, Cass received a couple of threatening notes, which Paul strongly denied sending, and she began to wonder which of her other enemies it could be. After receiving a silent phone call, Cass started to become scared, so when Donna suggested she make a public apology in Harold's Store, pleading forgiveness for all her recent wrongdoings, she went along with it, hoping it would bring an end to the stalking. Over the days that followed, Cass did her best to be nice to her neighbours, and encouraged Donna to audition for the part of Cassandra in the school play, Agamemnon, but when her daughter proved to be a big hit, Cass became jealous that the attention wasn't all on her. Cass encouraged Donna to change things for her second audition, and play the part in a more modern style, which left her a laughing stock. Upset at her mum's betrayal, Donna was revealed as Cass' stalker, as Elle caught her making another malicious call.

Elle encouraged Donna to destroy her phone and any other evidence of what she'd done, but it was too late, as Cass found some of Donna's magazines, with letters cut out which she'd used to make the blackmail notes. Cass immediately decided to report her child to the police and, although Elle tried to take the blame, Donna owned up to everything, but was told that her punishment could be greatly reduced if she could get her mum to give her a character reference. Cass refused, while Donna, having moved out when Cass reported her to the police, stupidly decided to return to live with her mum, hoping that her unconditional love would be enough to make her a better person. Though Cass seemed to be starting to make more of an effort, even offering to help make costumes for the play, she couldn't resist mocking her daughter as she rehearsed a scene in front of everyone. Things then got worse when Cass overheard Dan conforting Donna and accused him of having more than a professional interest in her wellbeing. Cass soon had Libby and Dan on her doorstep, warning her off, and before long most of the street had turned on her. Blaming Elle's influence on Donna for everything, Cass stole her precious pet, Cat and hid him under her house. When a claustrophobic Elle struggled to rescue the feline, Declan was almost killed as he was electrocuted by some faulty wiring.

With Cass' latest actions the final straw, the people of Ramsay Street set about getting rid of her. She was fired from her hospital job for poor timekeeping, barred from Charlie's and Harold's Store by Elle, and subjected to loud music played outside her house all night, as everyone else had been given earplugs. Cass was defeated, but before going, she dealt one final blow to Donna, telling her that Matt wasn't her real father - it was a guy named Nick who ran off when Cass was pregnant and she never heard from again. After being reported to the Salvation Army for not actually needing the house, 'Cyclone Sass' was forced to go, packing her bags into her car and making one final round of Ramsay Street, knocking down everyone's bins as she went.

Episodes Featured
5622, 5623, 5624, 5628, 5629, 5634, 5635, 5637, 5638, 5639, 5640, 5641, 5642, 5645, 5647, 5648, 5649, 5654, 5655, 5658, 5659, 5660, 5661, 5662, 5663, 5667, 5668, 5669, 5670, 5671, 5675, 5676, 5677, 5678

Magic Moments
Episode 5622: Cassandra's Arrival
Episode 5678: Cassandra's Departure

Biography by Steve

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