Dane Smith
Dane Smith (2006; 2008)
Cody Kaye
Episodes: 4307; 4720-4745
Dane was Lee Morton’s boyfriend, who she met when she left home due to her parents being unable to accept her pregnancy. As he was on the run from the police, Dane left Lee to have the baby on her own, much to Lucas’s annoyance as he thought Dane should have been there to support Lee.
Dane eventually turned up at the hospital to see Lee but he wasn’t happy when she said she was thinking of keeping the baby. He said that they had agreed to ‘get rid of it’ as he didn’t want someone else’s baby hanging around. He said that if she was keeping the baby then he would leave her. Despite Lucas and Rachel trying to persuade her to think about it some more, she decided to give the baby up for adoption and told Lucas that she was moving to Queensland with Dane. Lucas was annoyed with Dane and told him not to put pressure on Lee. Dane didn’t take to kindly to this and told Lee that the police were on his tail even more now after they had found the warehouse full of stolen goods. Dane and Lee then ran away from the hospital, putting Lee’s health at risk. Despite Lucas, Belle and Kim’s best efforts to find them, Dane was never seen again.
When Lee returned a month later for her baby she said that soon after they ran away she collapsed and Dane dumped her at a medical centre.
2 years later Dane turned up at the hospital with Joe, and told Rachel that he and Lee had been living together but she had gone to visit friends in Queensland.
Joe had bruises on his knee so Rachel suspected Dane was hitting him. Dane was offended by this accusation and left the hospital to ‘cool off’. Rachel then received Joe’s test results and realised her mistake when Joe was diagnosed with bone cancer. Dane was devastated by this as he admitted that he loved Joe. He then confessed that he and Lee had been arguing and that she had took off as she was struggling to cope.
The next day Dane didn’t turn up at the hospital to see the speciaist so Rachel went to his house looking for him. Dane said he missed the bus and couldn’t afford a taxi. Rachel was appalled that he could spend money on cigarettes but couldn’t afford to take Joe for his treatment. Rachel told him that she was taking Joe to the hospital and he should get in the car if he wanted to come too.
Later, Dane found out where Lee was so he wanted to got to Queensland with Joe and bring her back. Rachel tried to stop him as Joe needed treatment immediately and Dane finally agreed to leave Joe in Rachel’s care.
A week or two later Dane returned without Lee but he explained that he was taking Joe to find her as he needed his mother. Dane and Joe then left the Bay and Dane reassured Rachel that he would make sure that Joe took his medication and got the treatment he needed.
A few weeks later Dane returned alone and bumped into Tony and Rachel in the Diner. He told them that Joe was dead and left the Diner in tears without explaining. Rachel then found him in the surf club and demanded to know what had happened. Dane said Joe was feeling unwell so he took him to a hospital and the doctors said he had an infection. Dane said he died during the night and there was nothing that could be done to save him.
When Belle thought that the toxic chemicals in the development site could have been responsible for a cancer cluster in the Bay she approached Dane to try and get him to help in her investigations. However, still devastated by Joe’s death and blaming himself for it, Dane didn’t want to help. Belle then persuaded Rachel to talk to him. She explained that it wasn’t his fault that Joe had died and he did all he could for him. Dane then agreed to release Joe’s medical records to the police so they could invesitgate the possible links.