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Guest Character Profiles > Kelly Merolli Maya Aleksandra

Sen. Con. Kelly Merolli 2013, 2014
Occupation: Senior Constable with Erinsborough Police

After three years working at the West Waratah police station, Senior Constable Kelly Merolli was happy to be transferred to the new sub-station in Erinsborough, along with her new colleague, Sergeant Matt Turner. The week before the transfer to Erinsborough, Kelly and Matt had been working a night shift and, after getting burgers for breakfast, they looked over some surveillance tapes from a recent burglary at a bric-a-brac shop. Though Matt thought he recognised the criminal as Robbo Slade, someone he'd known in his old stomping ground in Queensland, he decided that it couldn't be Robbo, as he'd disappeared following a warehouse robbery, and wouldn't be stupid enough to follow the Turners to Erinsborough. Soon after, there was an attempted robbery at Lassiter's, followed by a woman having her bag snatched near the hotel. After getting some descriptions from the woman who was mugged, Kelly showed them to Matt, who was now even more certain that it was Robbo.

What Matt was trying to cover up was the fact this his two sons, Bailey and Mason had been involved in a robbery back home in Mount Isa, along with the elusive Robbo. Whilst Mason had gone to juvenile detention - and Robbo had gone on the run - Matt had allowed Bailey, his younger son, to go free, as he'd only been there to try and stop Mason. However, the secret had been hanging over the family and Matt had received blackmail notes, presuming that they were from Robbo, so Bailey decided to go to the police and own up. As Bailey was trying to speak to Kelly and confess, Mason found out that the notes had actually been from his ex-girlfriend Rhiannon, who was angry with Matt for allowing Mason to go to juvie. Seconds before Bailey was about to tell Kelly everything, Mason burst in and made up a story that the family cat had been found, explaining that Bailey had just come to report their lost pet.

Soon after, Sonya Rebecchi, the key witness in the Lassiter's robbery, suddenly got her memory back, having lost it weeks earlier following an explosion. She remembered seeing Mason and identified Robbo from photographs, leading to Kelly and another officer arresting Mason. The Turners immediately started to worry that, if Robbo was now found, he'd reveal Bailey's role in the Mount Isa robbery, and Matt's cover up. Bailey decided that it would be best for everyone if he confessed, and when he found out what his son was telling Kelly, he realised that he had to come clean too. Kelly took their statements and offered her sympathies to Matt the next day, when the superintendent suspended him from work. She also got dragged into the affairs of local businessman Paul Robinson, when councillor Allan Hewitt reported him for trying to bribe him, hoping to win his vote for the new Eclipse Apartments development at Lassiter's.

Later that week, Kelly also had to intervene during an incident at Lassiter's, when Kyle Canning attempted to search the bag of schoolkid Lachie Maroon. Kyle's girlfriend Georgia had been fired from her nursing job, after being accused of stealing drugs, but Kyle was determined to prove her innocence. After learning that Lachie had been selling prescription drugs from his locker at school, Kyle set him up, but after grabbing and searching his bag - and turning up nothing - Lachie told Kelly that he wanted to press charges. As they waited at the police station, Lachie's mum, Tina - a former nursing colleague of Georgia's - turned up, and Georgia suddenly worked out what had been going on. Tina had been the one taking the drugs, to help with chronic back pain that she often complained about, and Lachie had been taking them from her to sell.

A couple of weeks later, Kelly was part of the team helping to find kidnapped baby Patrick Villante. She and Matt tracked down Steph, who was suspected of taking the baby, to a local motel, but she'd already left, though they did find evidence that Patrick had been there. Steph and Patrick were eventually found, with Steph suffering delusions and believing that he was her son, that she'd given up. She was taken to hospital, then transferred to a secure psychiatric unit.

A few months later, Robbo Slade was back in town and was arrested for his part in the Lassiter's robbery. Out on bail, he did his best to intimidate Sonya, knowing that her evidence was the only thing between him and a spell behind bars. After visiting her at home, he was given a warning about trying to speak to a witness, but his plotting continued. When Sonya was briefly distracted at the Lassiter's complex one day, he moved the pram containing her daughter Nell around the corner. Though the baby was returned quickly and safely, Sonya was distraught, and convinced that Robbo had moved her. Matt brought Robbo into the police station, where he and Kelly questioned him about his part in the incident - Robbo claimed that he'd been at a job interview, and laughed at Matt's attempts to get rid of him, which had all failed so far. Once Robbo had gone, Kelly warned Matt that he might need to back off a bit, as it was starting to look like he was harassing Robbo.

Only a month later, Robbo was run down in the street by a mystery driver, and with the number of enemies he'd been making in Erinsborough, there was a long list of suspects. When Matt arrived at the scene of the accident, Kelly showed him the tyre marks on the road, which proved that the car had accelerated before it hit Robbo, making it very unlikely that they were dealing with an accident. Soon after, Robbo died, and Kelly received a tip-off that Robbo had been squatting at the old radio station in the weeks leading up to his death. She and Matt searched the building and found the remnants of some poker games - which made Matt realise that a strange note found on Robbo had been an IOU. The following week, the internet provider passed on Robbo's emails, from the month leading up to the accident, and they were given to Kelly to sort. Aware how deeply his family was involved in the case, Matt grabbed a moment, when Kelly left the room to make tea, and had a look, surprised to find a couple of emails exchanged between his wife Lauren and Robbo. Matt took them and went home, where he found out that Mason had stolen Robbo's laptop and had finally managed to access it. Realising how much trouble both his wife and son could find themselves in, he convinced Mason to hand in the computer, claiming that Robbo had leant it to him before his death, and told Lauren to own up about the emails, as they had never come to anything anyway. As Mason and Lauren were keeping Kelly occupied, Matt took the opportunity to put the stolen emails back into the pile.

Soon after, Kelly received a visit from Stavros Alkinos, who complained that Sheila Canning had verbally attacked him and destroyed his camera for no reason. Sheila, already shaken up after a late-night encounter with a man who tried to get her into his car, had seen Stavros taking photos around town a couple of times that day, and became convinced that he was stalking her. After learning that Stavros had only just come back from an overseas trip, and that he was a mature age photography student doing a project for TAFE, Sheila felt terrible, but managed to get Stavros to drop the charges after writing him a letter of apology and giving him a cheque to cover the damage.

Later in the year, Matt was worried to learn that his wife had been having dreams about dancing with Brad Willis, their neighbour and a man she'd dated twenty years earlier. Fearing that he was about to lose his wife if he didn't inject some excitement back into the marriage, Matt asked Kelly to give him a few dancing lessons so that he could surprise Lauren. When Lauren spotted Kelly and Matt sneaking off together, she assumed the worst and followed them, surprised to see them dancing together. After confronting the pair, Lauren was happy when she found out the truth - and enjoyed running through Matt's new dance steps with him.

A couple of months later, Matt was forced to step aside when Mason found himself in more trouble, accused of deliberate sabotage when Brad's son Josh was badly injured whilst abseiling. Mason was adamant that he'd done nothing wrong and with Brad planning to sue, Matt was determined to get to the truth. He tracked down Kelly and persuaded her to share the police findings so far - she explained that they'd checked over the equipment that Mason had rented from an abseiling company, and there was nothing wrong with it, so it was looking like it was human error, unless Mason could prove otherwise.

Later that year, Kelly was also part of the police team who locked down Ramsay Street when Stephen Montague - the prime suspect in the murder of Kate Ramsay - held Brennan and Imogen hostage at number 24. When Montague managed to get away, the police began searching the houses, and Kelly did her best to stop concerned friends and relatives from accessing their homes. After being tricked by Callum Rebecchi, Montague was eventually caught, and Brennan was devastated to learn that he had an alibi for the time of Kate's shooting, and that her killer was still out there somewhere. When Paul then learnt that Brennan had apparently obtained illegal copies of the files in Kate's murder investigation, he informed Kelly. She and another officer then went to Brennan's home, but he'd had a tip-off already, and managed, just in time, to get rid of the files before the police arrived to search the house.

A few weeks later, another suspect in Kate's murder case emerged, when CCTV footage was found of Victor Cleary. Victor had a strong motive, as he was the younger brother of Gus Cleary, who was murdered in Erinsborough in 2004, with Paul confessing to the murder a few years later. When Laura, Gus and Victor's sister, came forward with information about a place where her brother could be hiding, Matt and Kelly led the team as they attempted to track him down. Although they didn't find Victor, they found evidence that he'd been hiding out in the building, and numerous newspaper clippings about Paul, with Kate's face circled in one of them.

Episodes Featured
6600, 6608, 6619, 6635, 6636, 6638, 6647, 6648, 6695, 6713, 6721, 6726, 6748, 6784, 6817, 6869, 6870, 6877, 6902

Biography by Steve

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