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Guest Character Profiles > Monique Hughes Madeleine Vizard

Monique Hughes completed police training in Sydney with Mishti Sharma and her fiancé, Xander and, following Xander's death, Mishti took compassionate leave and ended up moving to Melbourne with her sister, Dipi and her family. Some months later, Mishti was in a new relationship with Leo Tanaka when she received some flowers from Monique, along with a note saying that she was thinking of her. Initially believing that it was about the miscarriage that Mishti had recently suffered, Leo was surprised to learn that Monique had sent the flowers because that was the day that Mishti and Xander had been due to get married. Realising that Mishti needed more support, Leo contacted Monique and asked her to come and visit and she was soon in Erinsborough, where Mishti was delighted to see her.

Slightly wary of Mishti's new man, Monique was intrigued when she overheard Chloe Brennan, Leo's personal assistant in his temporary role as Lassiters hotel manager, talking about how she'd given alcohol to underage hotel housekeeper Xanthe Canning, but that Leo had decided to keep it quiet, particularly from his cop girlfriend. Monique then went to Leo and asked him why he was keeping things from Mishti and whether he valued his job over his girlfriend. Leo insisted that it could cause a lot of damage if the truth got out and asked Monique to keep quiet, which she agreed to, if he paid her $1000. Taken aback by the thought that his girlfriend's best friend was a corrupt cop, Leo decided to test if she was actually serious about the blackmail, telling her that he was going to report the underage drinking to the police himself and that, if she told Mishti about it, he would tell her about the blackmail attempt. Monique quickly backed down and Leo was left wondering why she gave in so easily, so decided to contact private investigator John Wong about see what he could find out about her.

Though John came back with nothing on Monique, he explained that he had found out that Xander had been under investigation for corruption at the time of his death. He then went away to gather more information, but during this time, Leo confided in Mark Brennan about what had been happening and came to the conclusion that he didn't want Mishti to find out the truth about her late fiance. When John returned with more to share, Leo explained that he didn't want to know, but Mark, who had been kicked out of the police the previous year for tampering with evidence, felt that they should still find out what Monique was up to. Upon hearing that Monique was going to local gym, The Shed, he headed down there and got chatting, offering to work out with her. When he mentioned his own chequered past, Monique was intrigued, particularly when he spoke about how Sheila Canning, manager of the Waterhole, was always a good target for protection money. Unaware that she was being set up, Monique went to Sheila and got chatting about the recent series of robberies targeting local businesses, mentioning that she knew the leader of the Sydney gang who were responsible and could get him to back off - for a price.

Sheila then stormed off, saying that this was sounding very much like extortion and she was going to the police, and, outside, she and Mark met up with Mishti, telling her the whole story about Monique attempting to blackmail Leo. When Mishti went to confront her friend, she found that she'd vanished and she soon found out that she hadn't returned to her home or work in Sydney either. Having also learnt about Leo's attempts to cover up the underage drinking and the truth about Xander, Mishti realised that she kept falling for guys who weren't honest with her and she ended her relationship with Leo.

A few months later, whilst looking into the background of Piper Willis's mysterious new boyfriend, Cassius, Mark stumbled upon a lead that pointed him in Monique's direction, hoping that finally catching her might persuade the police to rehire him. Mark decided to tell Mishti what he was up to, hoping that she could contact Monique and lure her out of hiding, though Mishti felt that it would be far too obvious that it was a trap. She then came up with another plan, pointing out how protective Monique was of her friends and she contacted her to tell her about a recent incident in which a one-night stand named Dilhan recorded their night together and posted the video online. Monique replied quickly, wanting to see the video as proof, which Mishti sent to her, then waited to see if she took the bait. Over a week later, Monique got back in touch and said that she wanted to help Mishti and soon she and Mark were planning to trap her, not wanting to get any other police officers involved in case they too were corrupt. Unfortunately, things didn't pan out quite as Mishti had intended when she received word that Dilhan had been seriously assaulted and rushed to hospital, where he was claiming that he'd fallen. As she found out that Dilhan would be taken into surgery, where he would likely need a full knee reconstruction, Mishti then received a text from Monique saying 'You're welcome'

As Mishti realised how badly she'd misjudged the situation, Mark tried to make her see that Dilhan was a scumbag who deserved everything he got. Mark also pointed out that this would at least give the police a lead on Monique and her whereabouts, but as Mishti tried to confess her actions to her superior, Senior Sergeant Lake, she was brushed off and simply told to file a report on the matter. Confused by this, Mishti then received another message from Monique, asking to meet up and so she and Mark once again made a plan to catch her, this time with Mishti trying to get her to confess to Dilhan's assault as well. As they met up in an old warehouse, with Mark watching from a distance, Mishti and Monique spoke about everything and Monique admitted that Xander had never wanted to be involved in anything underhand, but she had dragged him into it after getting herself in danger. When Mishti then received a mysterious message from a private number, Monique realised that she was being set up and tried to make a run for it, but Mishti stopped her and arrested her, just as the police arrived. As neither Mishti nor Mark had contacted the police, they were confused, until they found out that Lake had been leading an undercover operation to catch Monique for months, and that Mishti's actions had nearly jeopardised the entire thing, leading to her being suspended from her job.

Episodes Featured
7823, 7824, 7830, 7940

Biography by Steve

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