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Guest Character Profiles > Robbo Slade Aaron Jakubenko

Robert [Robbo] Alan Slade 2013
Died: 2013
Occupation: Council Worker, Criminal

The criminal friend of Mason Turner, Robbo Slade had arranged a warehouse robbery with Mason, which went wrong when the silent alarm was tripped and the police arrived. Mason's younger brother Bailey had also turned up, desperate to stop his sibling from doing something stupid, and Mason and Bailey were left to take the rap when Robbo then did a runner, dumping a bundle of cash in the Turners' car before he went. When Mason and Bailey's dad, local police sergeant Matt Turner arrived, he arrested Mason, hoping that a spell in juvenile detention would put him back on the straight and narrow, but let Bailey go. Bailey, meanwhile, found the money in the car and kept it, unsure of how to deal with the situation.

Robbo went into hiding, but some months later, as the Turner family made a fresh start in Erinsborough, he broke into the house looking for his money. He failed to find it and Bailey quickly hid it in a gnome in the front garden, which then went missing after a hard rubbish collection. When Mason returned to the family, Bailey told him about the gnome, and the brothers realised that the money was gone, unaware that neighbour Sheila Canning had taken it for her collection. Mason, meanwhile, was adamant that Robbo would never break into their house, and clamied that Robbo didn't even know where they were. To prove his point, he decided to call Robbo, who acted like he had no idea where the Turners were now living, agreeing to come and visit next time he was down south. It wasn't long before Robbo called Mason, lying that he had just arrived in Erinsborough, and Mason was forced to explain that he didn't have Robbo's money, but would do his best to get a second job and pay him back. Though Robbo acted like he was satisfied with that, he soon turned on Bailey when he found him outside Grease Monkeys one day, warning him that he wanted his money back and wouldn't leave until he got it.

Robbo's other connection to the Turners was then revealed, as he called up Amber, Mason and Bailey's sister, arranging to meet up in secret. The pair had been secretly seeing each other for months and, whilst she was delighted to finally see her boyfriend, Amber was unaware of his connection to the warehouse robbery or the threats he'd been making towards her brothers. When Mason spotted Amber and Robbo together soon after, he began to realise that perhaps Robbo wasn't to be trusted and it might be safer for the whole family if Robbo was as far away as possible. Robbo suggested to Mason that they could do another robbery and then he'd have enough cash to get out of town, and Mason reluctantly agreed to help him rob Lassiter's the next day, during Sonya and Toadie's wedding. Having planned everything, they were surprised to find that the hotel had laid on extra security and had to do a runner, when they were spotted by bride Sonya. As he'd taken off his balaclava, Robbo knew that Sonya could easily identify him and he did a runner from Erinsborough, leaving behind his van and a photo of him with Amber.

Several weeks later, unaware that the police had been looking for him, and believing he was in the clear, Robbo returned to Erinsborough, surprising Amber, who'd just been on a terrible date with a guy named Clay. Though conflicted over her feelings for her ex, Amber told Mason that Robbo was back, and the pair made an anonymous tip-off to the police. Robbo was arrested the next morning, but soon got bail - which was paid by his mum - and was out and about again, goading Mason into punching him. As Mason was on a three-year good behaviour bond, for his part in the Lassiter's robbery, it looked like he might go back to jail, but Robbo didn't report it, in an attempt to show Amber that he just wanted her back, and wasn't there to cause trouble.

Awaiting his court appearance, Robbo approached Toadie for representation, but after realising who Robbo was, he said that he couldn't be his lawyer, as he'd already represented Mason for the same crime. When Robbo then spotted Toadie with Sonya, he recognised her as the key witness - later that day, he went to the Rebecchi house, pretending that he'd come to see Toadie, then started talking about his crime and how there'd been a mistake and the witness was wrong. Sonya soon realised that she was being intimidated, and the next day, she and Toadie reported Robbo for what he'd done. Again, he managed to worm his way out of it, and his list of enemies in Erinsborough continued to grow, with Toadie, Sonya and their son Callum all warning him to back off. Robbo, however, continued to prey on Amber, the only person who showed any small sign that she might care about him, and isolated her as he warned both Clay and another of her exes, and good friend, Josh, to stay away from her.

Worried about Robbo's continued presence in town, Mason was alarmed when he spotted Robbo looking under the bonnet of the car that Mason part-owned, with Josh's sister, Imogen. When Mason and Imogen took it out later that day, and it broke down, Mason found that the fuel line had been cut, and that the car could have exploded with them inside. Mason was certain that Robbo was behind it, but Robbo denied any involvement. Meanwhile, Matt did his best to convince Amber to stay away from Robbo, telling her that Robbo's father was a nasty piece of work, who was violent and charming, just as Robbo was turning out to be. Having been told, by Robbo, that his father had died of cancer, she confronted him, and he explained that he'd been ashamed of his dad and his violence, and had lied to try and save face. Amber listened sympathetically, and her feelings toward Robbo became more conflicted when it turned out that the problem with the fuel line had been Mason's fault, and Robbo had nothing to do with it.

Robbo continued to cause problems in the neighbourhood, when he moved Sonya's baby daughter, Nell in her pram, while Sonya's back was briefly turned. An increasingly worried Sonya was sure that he'd done it, but had no proof, and Robbo once again denied everything. His next port of call was Lassiter's hotel, where he tried to book a room, but received short shrift from hotel owner, Paul Robinson, who knew who he was and what he was capable of - and with Mason dating Paul's niece, Kate, Paul was determined to find a way to get rid of Robbo and his influence. Having managed to get almost the entire neighbourhood off-side, Robbo again focused his efforts on winning back Amber, visiting her at home, whilst the Turners had most of the neighbours over for the monthly Bite Club dinner. As Robbo gave Amber a necklace and spoke to her about old times, Sonya came out into the garden and saw him - she raised the alarm and Robbo ran off. But now, having broken his bail conditions twice, the police were very interested in finding him. Robbo once again claimed that it had been a misunderstanding, and he hadn't realised that he was trespassing or breaking his bail conditions, and a few days later, Amber spotted him and followed him back to the old radio station, where he'd been squatting.

Robbo once again managed to sweet talk Amber, asking her to stay and help him to work on some job applications. The next day, Robbo thought he'd struck gold when he got chatting to Paul, who said that he'd pay him for some information on Mason, hoping to get him out of Kate's life for good. He invited Robbo to his penthouse for a card game, claiming that his card skills weren't that good - but this was all part of Paul's plan, as he'd been taking lessons from card shark Marty Kranic. Unable to stop himself, and thinking he was about to make some easy money, Robbo ended up owing Paul $5000 by the end of the night, and Paul said that he'd wipe that debt if Robbo forgot about the money that Mason owed him, and left town. Furious, Robbo left the penthouse, but soon came up with a new plan when he asked Amber to come and see him, claiming that it was urgent. She was struggling with her feelings for him, and her family's concerns were only pushing her closer to Robbo, so, when she arrived and heard what had happened to him, she didn't resist when he kissed her, and they ended up sleeping together again. Having promised that he would change his plea to guilty, to avoid Mason being re-arrested for the crime, Robbo went back on his word once he'd got what he wanted from Amber. She was unaware that he'd been recording them having sex, and Robbo then threatened Mason, telling him that he wanted $10,000 or the video would go online for the world to see.

Robbo also managed to find work with the council as a street cleaner, but when Toadie spotted him out and about, close to Sonya's nursery, he was furious, particularly as Robbo still maintained that he was doing nothing wrong. Toadie then decided to complain to the council, and Robbo found himself fired, as they had no other areas for him to work in. There was soon a confrontation between Toadie, Sonya and Robbo, in which Robbo continued to goad them both, and Toadie made it clear that he'd do anything to protect his family. Robbo also continued to run his dodgy poker games from the squat, managing to tempt forming gambling addict Lucas into playing. Although Lucas ended up walking away with $6000 after his first game, the temptation to play again - and the huge debts that were mounting at home - made his decide to return, and he ended up losing the $6000, and owing Robbo another $4000. With the court case only a day away, Robbo was desperate to get his hands on the money that was owed to him by Mason, and was also determined to discredit Sonya. Whilst most of the community was gathered at the university for a hospital fundraiser, Robbo spiked Sonya's drink, hoping that she would arrive in court the next day in a hungover state and, with her past as an addict, it would discredit her witness statement. Unfortunately, Toadie ended up drinking the spiked apple juice and, in the middle of the night, in his confused state, he went off to find Robbo after reading a threatening text message on Sonya's phone. Josh, Chris and Hudson had also learnt about the video of Amber, with Josh and Chris arranging to meet with Robbo too, having managed to get the blackmail money from Hudson's wealthy family. Lucas was also on the warpath, having learnt that the pokers game were dodgy and Robbo had been using marked cards, while Amber, after finding out about the video Robbo had made of them, had stolen Imogen's car keys and also gone out looking for her ex. With Imogen trying to find Amber and stop her from doing anything stupid, there were many Erinsborough residents unaccounted for that night - and when Robbo was found unconscious the next morning, the victim of a hit-and-run, it seemed there were a lot of people with reason to hurt him, and none of them had an alibi.

After a few days in Erinsborough Hospital's ICU, Robbo was taken off the ventilator and started to wake up, but suddenly went into cardiac arrest. In his final moments, he said the words 'Mason did...' to his nurse, Georgia Brooks, who then attempted to resuscitate him, but failed and he was pronounced dead. Three weeks later, it was revealed that it had been Hudson who had run down Robbo.

Trivia Notes
• Aaron Jakubenko previously appeared in 2009 as Rhys Sutton and in 2011 as Brad Bain
• Aaron Jakubenko was credited as Robbo for episode 6608, though he was only shown in photographs. Robbo's death occurred in episode 6717 - any episodes he appeared in after that point were through flashbacks of the night of the hit-and-run
• Click here to read our interview with Aaron Jakubenko

Episodes Featured
6580, 6596, 6597, 6598, 6601, 6602, 6687, 6688, 6689, 6690, 6693, 6694, 6695, 6699, 6700, 6701, 6702, 6705, 6706, 6707, 6708, 6710, 6711, 6712, 6714, 6715, 6716, 6717, 6718, 6719, 6722, 6725, 6732, 6733