Danny Braxton
Danny Braxton (2012)
Andy McPhee
Episodes: 5528–5585
Spouse: Cheryl Braxton (separated)
Children: Darryl, Heath & Kyle Braxton
Step Children: Casey Braxton (deceased)
The father of Brax and Heath and assumed father of Casey, Danny had been in jail since Casey was seven, having carried out an armed robbery. He had been violent towards his sons, especially Heath, with Brax usually taking Casey out of the house and spending the night on the beach when Danny got in his moods, during one of which he broke Cheryl’s arm. Despite this, Heath seemed to have some fond memories of him. He visited him in prison and asked solicitor Hayley O’Connor to look into the case. Hayley discovered Danny had been sentenced to fifteen years and his behaviour in prison meant he was unlikely to get parole, but the officer who arrested him was later found to be corrupt, which could give them grounds to overturn the conviction.
Heath visited Danny again and learned he had got into a fight after finding out about Heath giving evidence against Jake Pirovic, which prompted Danny to call Heath a “dog”. Brax also visited Danny but the meeting quickly descended into an argument and Brax concluded Danny hadn’t changed. Nevertheless, he reluctantly took Casey to see their father and was disappointed that Casey and Danny got on well.
When Brax learned Heath and Hayley had arranged an appeal, he visited Danny before the hearing and tried to warn him to stay away from the family. However, Heath and Casey continued to support the idea of Danny being released. As proceedings dragged on, everyone headed home, but that night Danny turned up at Angelo’s and told Brax he was a free man. Brax reluctantly let Danny spend the night at the house with him and his brothers rather than have him go home to Cheryl. Danny made himself known around town, meeting the likes of Leah, Marilyn and Natalie, and Heath took him to the hospital to meet his grandson Rocco.
Heath and Casey arranged for Danny to stay at the caravan park, after which he went to the family home only to find Brax there and be told that Cheryl had gone away. Danny had left the proceeds from the armed robbery with them but Brax told him it was all gone. Danny continued to spend time with Casey, drinking and sparring when Casey was meant to be at school. Casey was willing to drop out of school to go on a road trip with him and Brax offered to get Danny the money if he’d leave, causing him to cancel the plans.
Danny warned Natalie not to interfere with his family but charmed Marilyn, who he began to spend a lot of time with. He was having dinner with Marilyn and Casey when Brax was attacked and denied any involvement. Heath found some letters in Danny’s caravan that he had written to them while in prison and Brax had returned unopened. Danny burnt the letters, telling Heath and Casey that he’d kept them because they were his only link to them. Brax joined the others for a meal where Danny told a story about how he’d got someone to pay off a debt by burning their house down. However, he told Casey he wasn’t interested in Brax’s money.
Danny took an interest in Ruby on learning she had inherited a large amount of money from Charlie’s life insurance, inviting her to join him, Casey and Marilyn for barbecues. However, his scheming began to turn his remaining sons against him. Heath was annoyed that Danny was spending all his time on charming Ruby instead of visiting Rocco and concluded he didn’t care about them, while Casey pretended to help him but actually sabotaged the plan, convincing Ruby to move back into the house with Alf, Roo and Marilyn so she was out of Danny’s influence.
Although Brax and Casey staged an argument in front of him, Danny quickly realised what Casey had done and punched him. Unknown to the other Braxtons, Danny had another son, Kyle, who he involved in his plan to get revenge on Brax. Kyle provided Danny with a gun and a fake passport, after which Danny took Casey to a motel so he couldn’t speak to anyone else. He took Casey with him to rob the Reefton Arms pub, with Kyle following from a distance. Danny held the manager, Pete Simpson, at gunpoint and got him and Casey to empty the safe. He then had Casey tie Pete up, before handing Casey the gun and trying to force him to shoot Pete. Instead, Casey shot Danny, just before Brax and Natalie arrived. Danny had intended to get Casey sent to jail and, while he hadn’t intended it to be for killing him, in his last moments of consciousness he didn’t seem too disappointed. An ambulance was called but Danny died in surgery.
* Early press material stated that the character was originally called Sean Braxton.