Haunted by attack: Shortland Street stalker story hits home.

It may have been her character who was the victim, but Shortland Street actor Laurel Devenie says she now realises the real-ilfe impact of such assaults. Kerry Harvey reports.

The horror of being attacked by Shortland Street’s mystery masked stalker has deeply affected Laurel Devenie, who plays Nurse Kate Hannah.

She says she was surprised at just how vulnerable she felt when her character was assaulted by a stalker who is terrorising Ferndale’s female staff.

“The force of someone punching you in the face – that just keeps coming back into my mind,” she says.

“Our stunt co-ordinator made sure I knew that I was completely safe but I was really amazed at how vulnerable you are if a man does decide to use all his strength on you.

“Your gut response is to fight back. I was really shocked at how I was screaming as loud as I could and it was like a squeak. That really shocked me. The adrenalin did go up there.”

The nighttime attack happens when a downcast Kate – convinced everyone has forgotten it is her birthday – is on her way to her car in the hospital carpark.

Ironically, in a bizarre coincidence, two days later a student nurse was attacked while walking across Hagley Park to her car after finishing a shift at Christchurch Hospital.

“We talked a lot about that – and someone was interviewed about it – and there was lots of talk about the kind of rage that comes afterwards,” Devenie says.

Kate manages to fight off her attacker, scratch his neck, and tries to chase after him but he gets away.

Husband Mo (Jarod Rawiri) and the rest of the Hannah family rally around Kate who is left shaken and with an impressive black eye.

“You’d forgotten about it and walk down to the cafe (in full make-up) to get a coffee and everyone goes, ‘Oh, what have you done?’. And you certainly don’t want to go down to the supermarket. I mean, spoiler alert! Hello,” Devenie says.

However, the invisible effects of the attack stay with Kate much longer. The nurse, while privately rattled, puts up a staunch front, insisting she is not a victim.

“I thought the writers did really well with that and I was really surprised in doing it how it made so much sense,” she says.

“There are so many complex things going on. For a start, you don’t necessarily want the attention that people give you. It is all out of love but, I know for myself if I’m upset, I find intense sympathy or attention quite difficult to deal with. That ‘Don’t touch me or I’ll break even more’ reaction.

“The other thing – and this is horrible – is because she was attacked but he didn’t rape her, there was this thing of ‘Do I have a right to be a victim?’ ”

Devenie says she welcomed being part of such a hard-hitting storyline and is keen to show the impact such assaults have in the long term – even on the strongest people.

“She’s a really independent woman. She’s lived quite a hard life and raised her son alone so she thinks all of this doesn’t fit with her idea of herself,” she says. “I think that’s another reason why she’s uncomfortable with this idea of needing any support.” Devenie says she hopes the attack on Kate starts plenty of conversations.

“I was really pleased to have

“The other thing – and this is horrible – is because she was attacked but he didn’t rape her, there was this thing of ‘Do I have a right to be a victim?’ ”

– Laurel Devenie

the opportunity to play the person who overpowers the attacker and I think that’s a really important story to tell and message to get across.

“We need to remember there are always moments where the man is vulnerable. We need to get that twist-and-pull message across.”

However, despite Kate’s best efforts, the attacker is still out there and it looks like he won’t be caught any time soon.

The mystery man has already attacked Clare (Becky Button), the university friend of Jack (Reuben Milner), and is believed to have been behind an assault on a friend of Dawn’s (Rebekah Palmer) last year.

“I don’t know where it will all end myself,” says Devenie, adding the identity of the attacker is a hot topic of conversation among her fellow cast members.

“No one has any idea who the attacker is. It’s a mystery for everyone. We’re all looking at each other sideways in the corridors at the moment. Who knows?”