Denni Maitland
Denni Maitland (2007)
Joshua Helman
Episodes: 4477-4491
Siblings: Older brothers
Denni was first seen in his car when he briefly stopped alongside Drew’s vehicle while he was chatting with Ric and Dom then drove off.Dom explained this was Denni’s way of telling Drew he was interested in racing him.Denni later aproached Drew and challenged him to a race, with Drew being noncommital in response.As Denni drove off, Drew noticed his ex-girlfriend Lisa Duffy sitting in the car.
Two weeks later, Denni watched from a few paces away as Lisa approached Drew and Ric and told them Denni wanted to race Drew.Later, Lisa went to see Drew and told him that after he’d dumped her for Belle she’d hooked up with Denni and told him about Drew treating her badly in order to get her own back. However, Denni had proved to be a lot more unstable than she’d first thought.Drew had first hand experience of this when Denni stormed into the house and dragged Lisa out.Belle later saw Denni with Lisa and Dom at the Diner and gave him a serve for his behaviour only for him to coldly tell her that once he’d finished with Drew she’d be next.
Ric and Drew found that Drew’s car was missing and Dom told them that Denni had taken it and would only give it back if Drew agreed to race him.Lucas later saw Denni and Lisa together and noticed the lack of warmth in their relationship.Lisa admitted that things had gotten out of hand and she was frightened of Denni but also said that Denni felt he needed to prove himself to his brothers.When Ric and Drew turned up at the race, Denni told them that he would only return Drew’s car if he beat him in the race.Despite having a few difficulties with his car, Denni insisted the race went ahead.However, his car ended up overheating and Drew and Ric easily beat him.As they celebrated at the finishing line with a disapproving Belle and Matilda, who had forced Dom to take them to the race, Denni stormed up and told them that the result would only count if both cars finished and he wasn’t going to return the car.
Denni told a reluctant Lisa that he wanted her with him next time he raced, as his good luck charm, and when Dom pointed out Drew might not agree to the race, Denni said he would hurt Belle if he didn’t.He sent Drew a text message with the race details but Drew wasn’t interested.After calling round Lisa’s house during the night and finding she wasn’t there, he turned up at the school and found her with Lucas, correctly guessing they had spent the night together.Lucas was worried what Denni would do to Lisa if no-one turned up to the race and headed down there to try and get her away from him.Ric and Drew followed and dragged Lucas away, at which point Denni pushed Lisa into his own car and chased after them, ramming Drew’s car from behind.Lisa grabbed the wheel in an attempt to stop him and Denni ending up losing control of the vehicle and crashing.Matilda and Belle arrived on the scene with Lara to find Denni inside the car and a badly injured Lisa lying some feet away.
Denni was taken to the local hospital where he told Lara that Drew had run him off the road.When the news came that Lisa had died from her injuries, Lucas angrily confronted Denni and, after both of them blamed the other for what had happened, attempted to smother him, being dragged from the room by Tony.After an examination of the crash scene showed that Drew had turned off before the crash, Denni was charged with culpable driving over Lisa’s death.