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Guest Character Profiles > Shannon Rutherford Grace Quealy

Recovering addict Krista Sinclair found herself struggling to stay on the wagon in the wake of the stillbirth of her daughter, Hope, ending up taking some prescription drugs after being set up by Chelsea Murphy. Chelsea was desperate to hide the secret that she'd been responsible for the incident that led to Krista losing her baby, but Chelsea's emotional manipulation, along with Krista's friendship with Aaron Brennan, who was grieving for his husband David, led to her firmly falling off the wagon. Krista attempted to keep her relapse from her friends and loved ones, including boyfriend Leo Tanaka, but as he was asking questions and almost caught her buying from her dealer Shannon, she decided to end the relationship before he found out the truth.

When Krista and Aaron were then using the drugs the following day, she had the sudden realisation that Chelsea was responsible for everything. Rushing to the hotel to confront her, Krista warned that she was going to reveal the truth, but as Chelsea tried to stop her, Krista fell and hit her head, waking up in hospital with no memory of why she'd been in Chelsea's hotel room. As the truth came out about Krista and Aaron's drink and drugs binges, they both agreed to make a fresh start and delete Shannon's number from their phones. When Krista was walking through the Lassiters complex later that day, Shannon spotted her and approached her, trying to tempt her to buy something, but Krista resisted and a passing Leo had to step in as Shannon stepped up her efforts. Krista thanked Leo, telling him who Shannon was and assuring him that she was going to make the effort to stay clean now.

The following week, Shannon made another attempt to get Krista to buy from her, but was met with resistance once again. When Leo spotted Krista arguing with Shannon, he threatened to call the police and Shannon made a hasty exit. When Shannon later spotted Krista on her own, she tried again, showing Krista some opioids she had with her. Krista gave her a final warning to stay away, saying that the Sinclair family's thugs, unlike the police, would make Shannon's life hell. Having finally gotten the message, Shannon left Krista alone, but not before accidentally dropping the bag of opioids on the ground, which was later found by Leo's young daughter, Abigail.

When Leo noticed that Abigail was behaving strangely, she showed him the 'lollies' she'd found and eaten, and he, along with a passing Krista, rushed her to hospital. Dr Remi Varga-Murphy explained that, unless they could work out quickly what the pills were, they'd have to pump Abigail's stomach, but Krista explained that she'd seen them earlier that day when Shannon had tried to sell them to her. After Krista confirmed that they were opioids, Remi was able to treat Abigail and, while the incident brought Leo and Krista back together as a couple, Leo was also determined that Shannon wasn't going to ruin any more lives. He took the opioids and baggie, along with Shannon's fingerprints, to the police, and got Krista to arrange a meeting with Shannon. He then went along in Krista's place and told Shannon what he'd done and, as she went, Shannon warned Leo that he was going to regret his actions.

When a mysterious figure injected poison into one of the wine bottles at Leo's vineyard soon after, leaving Dex Varga-Murphy seriously ill, Shannon became a suspect when she appeared on the dashcam footage of one of the vineyard's employees. With motive and opportunity, Shannon was taken in for questioning by the police and, after initially denying any knowledge, she admitted, when shown the photo, that she'd gone to the vineyard planning to cause damage, but had quickly left as there were so many people around. With no other evidence to go on, the police were unable to press any charges.

After being charged with trespass and while spending a few days in custody, another poisoning took place in a Chinese restaurant, meaning that Shannon couldn't have been responsible. She was released and approached by Holly Hoyland, who was desperate to try and find out who the mystery poisoner was, feeling guilty that comments she'd made about Leo online were ruining his business. Holly arranged to meet with Shannon, wondering if she'd seen anything relevant when she'd been at the vineyard, but Krista spotted them talking, telling Shannon to get off hotel property. Shannon was happy to go, but pointed out that Krista was no better than her, as she'd been the one taking the drugs that Shannon had been selling. After warning Krista to stay away from her in future, Shannon then left.

The following year, Shannon and her teenage daughter, Addison, were evicted from their home and, after staying with friends, they were forced to leave again. Whilst Shannon went off on a bender, Addison claimed to be staying with friends again, though this didn't last long and she ended up secretly sleeping at the school. After being caught out, she was taken into emergency foster care, but this didn't work out for her and she ended up back at the school, caught out again by principal Jane Harris. It was agreed that Addison would stay with Jane until they found somewhere else for her, but she soon clashed with Jane's daughter, Nicolette who, after learning that Addison's mum was a drug dealer, became worried about her presence. Realising that she wasn't welcome, Addison told them that she had a new foster home to go to but, a few days later, she was found sleeping behind the 82 Tram cafe on Power Road. She told the concerned Erinsborough residents, including Krista, that there hadn't been room for her at the new foster home and she'd had nowhere else to go. With Addison clearly desperate to be reunited with her mum, Krista took a risk and got in touch with Shannon, claiming that she wanted to score drugs. When Shannon then turned up, Krista confronted her about Addison, explaining the young girl's situation and trying to make Shannon see that she might be her daughter's only hope. Krista was relieved when Shannon then agreed to meet with her and Addison later that day, and the young girl was excited about seeing her mum again. Unfortunately, it all ended badly when Shannon sent an incoherent text saying that she wouldn't be able to make it and Addison quickly realised that her mum had been using. Feeling terrible for getting Addison's hopes up and with options running out, Krista then offered to take her in. The next message from Shannon revealed that Addison's father was Clint Hendry, a school cleaner who Jane had been involved with earlier in the year, and who she'd reported to the police after finding out that he'd been stealing cleaning supplies to help pay for his mother's medical care. As Jane met with Clint and found out his side of the story, it was arranged for Clint and Addison to meet for the first time.

Episodes Featured
9032, 9037, 9043, 9044, 9054, 9059, 9337

Biography by Steve

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