Roimata and TK are later harassed, and the police believe the harasser is Roimata's attacker. In the start of , Roimata, TK and Josh all work out that Zac Smith was Roimata's attacker, and after taking a few months to prove it, Zac is eventually arrested. However, during the ordeal, Roimata and Josh had become very close, and had fallen in love.
Roimata initially suppressed her feelings for Josh, however she eventually succumbed, and they begin a steamy affair behind TK's back. When Roimata and TK visit the family marae, Josh follows Roimata down there to spend time with her, however when a car accident means the clinic needs an extra doctor urgently, Roimata is forced to call Josh in, revealing their affair to TK, who throws Roimata out.
Roimata moves in with Josh and they begin dating publically, causing tension in ED. However Josh smothers Roimata, trying to make her feel helpless and need him, and they eventually break up, leaving Roimata vulnerable after all that has happened. Roimata struggles when she learns Sarah and TK have reconciled,and she considers leaving Ferndale, however Sarah and Vasa talk her around. Late in , Roimata and Harper become concerned about Josh's behaviour, and suspect he may have Hero Syndrome, they eventually uncover enough evidence to prove that he was poisoning Wendy, and Josh is arrested.
Roimata's father Henare George Henare arrived to the show in early March and Henare described his characters relationship with Roimata, "My character is a likeable man whose daughter is the apple of his eye, so he was a lovely character to play.
Roimata was introduced as a love interest for TK Samuels Benjamin Mitchell and to create a love triangle upon the eventual return of his ex-wife, Sarah Amanda Billing. Upon arriving to the show, Ruakere teased the idea that Roimata would be getting a love interest, "In true Shortland Street style, there's some exciting romance on the cards for Roimata" Roimata found herself attracted to co worker, TK and after his flirtatious manner, eventually began to date him.
Ruakere enjoyed working alongside Mitchell, "Ben's taken me under his wing. He's a very generous actor and I'm learning a lot from him. Ruakere described this moment as a "rough time" and explained the wide range of emotions she had to portray during the onscreen relationship. Sarah pleaded with TK to take her back and raise their child, to which he rejected.
Ruakere explained, "It's fair to say that TK makes a relatively big decision about his future with either Sarah or Roimata. And no matter the outcome, you can guarantee that there will stunned reaction from all involved. They subsequently married each other in an unofficial ceremony. In early , the relationship was briefly shaken when Roimata realized TK was in on an illegal deal with her father.
The couple struggled to work alongside each other in the Emergency Department and Roimata found herself at odds with doctor, Josh Gallagher Chris Tempest. Following her sexual assault, Roimata began to exclude herself from TK and Mitchell speculated the marriage was at risk.
Josh provided support for Roimata when TK couldn't and even comforted her at the scene of the crime, leaving TK suspicious of his motives. Ruakere explained that the sexual assault left the couple at odds, "They are two people lost in the middle of the ocean, splashing around, trying desperately to find each other and make sense of stuff and it's not working.
She does all the stages - denial, anger - she's just snapping at him and he can't do anything right. She can't understand why anyone would think he would be the culprit. Just when she needs TK the most, he can't control his anger". However, when Josh's ex-girlfriend Lana Jacobs Brooke Williams announced he had fallen for Roimata, she too suspected he may be the attacker.
Roimata soon started to develop feelings for Josh, much to TK's ignorance; Mitchell stated, "Roimata is always reassuring TK that she loves him. But he's starting to wonder how much she means it. Ruakere was upset when she learned Roimata was going to cheat on TK and hoped for a potential reunion though admitted Roimata needed some serious help after her assault.
In it was decided that the character of Roimata would be subject of a sexual assault at the hands of Zac Smith Mike Edward. Edward had been hired on a 6-month contract, but, following the implementation of the storyline, his contract was extended. Sexual assault storylines had previously occurred in Shortland Street such as the rape of Minnie Crozier Katrina Devine in , but Ruakere felt Roimata's was portrayed with "the most depth needed". Ruakere wasn't aware when acting out the storyline that it would have great effect on her immediately afterwards, "this storyline is heavy.
I had no idea how much it would affect me until after I'd done it. I knew that to do the scene properly, I needed to feel the fear, to have a real force on me. Of course I didn't want to be hurt, but a sexual assault is every woman's worst nightmare and I knew I had to be as scared as I could be.
Although we had practised beforehand so that level of contact wasn't uncomfortable, when the time came and my arm was twisted behind my back, there was no acting required. She described it as "horrific" and "every women's worst nightmare". In November a scene aired where TKs wife, Roimata Shavaughn Ruakere was sexually assaulted in an alleyway following her birthday party. Sexual assault storylines had previously occurred in Shortland Street such as the rape of Minnie Crozier Katrina Devine in , but Ruakere felt Roimatas was portrayed with "the most depth needed".
Behind the scenes, Zac was always intended to be the perpetrator but the assailant was depicted anonymously so as to create suspense. To further the illusion that it was not Zac, directors shot the assault scene with Chris Tempest Josh Gallagher actually physically carrying it out, whilst Sam Bunkall Boyd Rolleston added the voice over.
The trick successfully fooled much of the audience, with many believing it was in fact Beulah Koales Jared Afeaki voice. Edward found not actually playing the assault made his work a lot easier, "I guess in a lot of ways that was good because the way I reasoned with Zac is the compartmentalize. Hes got the amazing ability to put something in a box and put something else in another box and keep the two entirely separate. So having no memory of it and feeling totally innocent of the performance of it, kind of helped in lots of ways.
However, on 12 December , Zac was revealed to the audience as the attacker when he threatened Detective Lisa Stone Caitlin Bossley and later removed a balaclava to expose his face. The characters soon started to discover the attacker had assaulted Roimata as a personal attack on TK. Further harassments included the assailant breaking into the house and sprawling out Roimatas underwear and later leaving a white feather on the doorstep.
During the season cliffhanger, Zac was described as a, "a master puppeteer". He was said to be playing TK, Roimata, Sarah and Josh, "like pawns in his own twisted game of chess, moving suspicions from one person to the other in order to keep his identity under wraps" and it appeared as though he were "unstoppable". As the year ended, Zac poisoned TK and used several tricks to frame Josh for the attack However, with Joshs input, Roimata realised Zac was the attacker and publicly accused him, causing him to lose what little friends he had left.
With his dwindling amount of friends, in early Zac decided to take drastic action in exacting revenge on TK. He kidnapped Roimata, bound and drugged her and locked her in the cellar of The I. After Roimata was eventually recovered, Zac was arrested and charged after she collected enough DNA evidence to have him charged.
Zac has been immortalized, being listed as one of the numerous men the iconic Rachel McKenna Angela Bloomfield romanced and is generally well regarded as a "hunk" and a "hottie". Edward expressed his hope that the character would become one of the soaps best ever villains.
Amy Usherwood Emma Franklin named Zac as the character besides her own whom she would enjoy playing, due to the fact: "he gets to be naughty". Blogger Bridget Jones hoped that the end of the season of Shortland Street would see the end of Zacs manipulative behaviour.
Zac was described by one reviewer as, "one of the most manipulative creeps and terrifyingly clever assailants that Shortland Street has ever seen". The development of the character of Zac following his attack on Roimata, was named by Rebecca Barry Hill of The New Zealand Herald as a satisfying continuation of the drama brought on by the shows 20th anniversary in May.
Zacs return to the soap, his love triangle between Sarah Amanda Billing and Vasa Teuila Blakely, alongside his shirtless confrontation with TK Samuels Benjamin Mitchell and later sexual assault of Roimata Shavaughn Ruakere, were all named as part of the top moments of the Shortland Street season. In , Zacs return was listed as the 8th best ever character return on the soap by the Shortland Street website.
He commented that the character obviously spent too much time at the gym and mentioned the increasing amount of soap opera storyline climaxes involving locking characters in cellars. However he also noted that the character of Zac was sure to be written off due to the content of his story lines. Although Edward received a fair amount of verbal abuse on the streets, he expected a more physical tone due to past experiences with Johnny Barker Joey Henderson, whose character murdered 5 woman.
Upon ending his stint, Edward acknowledged that Zac was liked by fans when he first arrived in but by the end, had become a character fans, "loved to hate". In the Ferndale Talk Best of awards, Zacs conclusion was voted the fans second favourite storyline and 3rd most shocking plot twist.
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