australian television information archive

Fail to Appear

The pressure is finally beginning to tell on Steve Hennessey. He has a fight with his girlfriend Kirsty the night before his bail hearing and goes out to drown his sorrows. He ends up crashing at a mate’s house and misses his bail hearing. This is not a clever move as the robbery squad have linked him with a recent bank job. The police haul him back to jail and charge him with armed robbery.

Vic’s old uni friend Elias Khosaba turns up. Even though Vic thinks him cocky and questions his scruples, he ropes Khosaba into the team because he’s a brilliant lawyer. Khosaba immediately proves his worth by helping Vic to get a press gag order in the Supreme Court, stopping Michael Kidd from moving for a mistrial by claiming the impossibility of a fair trial for Steve.

Meanwhile, Tina fights an uphill battle to jail two men for a vicious assault on an elderly gentleman. The victim is a hopeless witness as his memory is shot from years of alcohol abuse, but Tina is determined to get a conviction and obtains convincing hospital reports and statements from other witnesses. The old man’s attackers are convicted, and also on a good note, Andrew Saunders, the policeman on the case, takes quite a shine to her.

Back in jail, Steve begins to lose the plot and accuses prison officers of trying to kill him by poisoning his food. When he can take it no longer, he escapes by overpowering a guard and taking his gun. This means deep trouble for Steve because if he gets caught, he’s going down.