Salim Benali

Salim Benali was Lisa Durant's husband and is the father of 5 of her children. (deceased)

Background
Salim and Lisa met at a party, when Lisa was at the height of her drug addiction. She calls him her 'first real love', and the two fell for each other hard. One day, Lisa impulsively booked a plane to Milan and left Salim, who was planning to propose. Salim was devastated.

Storylines
Lisa sees Salim for the first time in a while who doesn’t seem to remember her, so she uses her advantage to rebuild her relationship with him as ‘Leanne’.

‘Leanne’ and Salim have been together for a while now when she decides to be honest with him and tell him they know each other. Salim is angry she didn’t tell him who she was but accepts that she was scared. When Lisa lived in Brooklyn, she used to take pills with him, and they would have sex until one day he disappeared, and she assumed he was dead. They tell each other that they are off drugs completely, and Lisa is sick all over the floor. She takes a test, which tells her she’s pregnant. Lisa doesn’t want to terminate and is determined to stay in Brooklyn and asks Salim if he wants to raise a baby with her. Salim breaks down in tears and tells her that he had a girlfriend, Megan, who was pregnant with their child and died during childbirth after being involved in a car accident and says he’s scared but he will be involved 100%.

A wedding dress arrives at Lisa’s apartment and it fits. She tries it on out of curiosity and Salim walks in on her trying it on. She tries to tell him she didn’t buy it and he proposes in the heat of the moment. She accepts! They elope and on Christmas Day and Lisa gives birth to their daughter. The new parents decide to name her after something winter related. After a lot of back and forth with name suggestions like Seren, Carol, Guinevere and Aspen, Lisa suggests Maya after Maya Rudolph her favourite actress and notes it’s kind of Christmassy. They agree!

Salim starts hyperventilating and reaches for his meditation but falls over and passes out. He is released from hospital under orders to relax.

Lisa sees Victor Feng in town and fixates herself on him by sending him text messages and letters calling him a bastard. Salim tells her she needs to back off and live her life, but she refuses to back down. She texts him an address and waits for him to show up at the apartment. They fight as Lisa tries to stab him but eventually manages to stab him with a pen in the neck. She successfully hides his body in the tunnel by the apartments and pays a homeless man $2000 to say nothing. She leaves his body in a disused skip. Police launch a probe into Victor’s disappearance and question Lisa as Victor was pictured going into her apartment. The police find Victor’s blood in the hallway and arrest Lisa for Victor’s murder. She’s released pending investigation and Salim asks her if she had anything to do with Victor’s death. She tells him what Victor did to her son Griffin and he tells her he needs time to process this. Salim still hasn’t come home a day later when Lisa gets a phone call from the prison. Salim has confessed to killing Victor but refuses to tell police where his body is. Salim pleads guilty and has a sentencing date set. Lisa tries to visit Salim but is told she isn’t permitted to.

Salim sends a letter and tells Lisa he’s sending a chunk of his money to her for her and the kids and asks for a divorce, since he’s been sentenced for 20 years and doesn’t want to tie her down. Lisa is devastated.

Salim was released from prison and Lisa immediately gave him a place to stay. They talked about their pasts, and decided to give each other another chance. They eventually got married and Lisa fell pregnant with twins Aron and Jorge. Salim sadly died after the wedding and Lisa was inconsolable, as he never got to meet their twins, and barely had any time with their first six children

Crimes Committed

 * Lied about killing Victor Feng