Christina Dichiera

Constable Christina Dichiera is one of the four tritagonists (alongside Leo Flynn, Kaye Kelso and Bernie Rocca) of Stingers.
 
She served as a tritagonist from season six to season eight.
 
She is portrayed by Jacinta Stapleton.
 
==Early History==
Not too much is known about Chris' past. Her real name is Felicity Mathews. She used to be a small-time criminal during her teenage years, with her juvenile criminal record listing her prior arrests for vandalism, breaking and entering, and being drunk and disorderly. She later decided to make a change in her life, abandoning both her real name and her past as a criminal. Now going by the name Christina Dichiera, she joined the police force.
 
==Personality ==
Despite her past as a criminal, Chris is shown to be the more moral officer in the Undercover unit for the most part, which is made apparent late in season six, when Chris voices her objections to Angie over the unit’s somewhat illegal methods to take down Kieran Frances Conrad and Stig Enquist, and contemplates resigning from the unit, although she later reconsiders this after realizing that such methods are the only way to stop Enquist due to his corrupt influence.
Chris struggled to get along with Peter Church at first, mostly due to Chris mistakenly arresting him when they first met, as well as due to her questioning if Church is corrupt or not due to his methods in trying to take down Conrad, Enquist, and briefly their boss Luke Harris. However, they finally start to get along with one another when he discovers her true identity after she kills Dario Menotti in self-defence, and tries to protect her when Menotti's death is treated as a homicide, while also later rescuing her from Raymond Shamonne when he tries to murder her. Following this ordeal, Chris and Church finally form a friendship with one another, with Church affectionately giving Chris the nickname Bloodnut, as a reference to her dyed red hair.
 
==Notable storylines==
Chris makes her first appearance in the second episode of season six, where she arrests Peter Church and Angie Piper, unaware that they’re undercover cops. Despite the mishap, Chris manages to impress the Special Investigations squad boss Luke Harris, who recruits her into the unit as part of the Undercover team on a trial run.
 
Chris is later tasked with working on surveillance against a video rental store for fraud, with Danni Mayo supposed to supervise her. However, Danni instead works with Church to investigate drug dealer Tony Rawlinson, leaving Chris to supervise the store by herself, where she decides to visit to secretly investigate the supposed fraud by herself. She quickly befriends one of the staff members, Macey Wright, wanting to know about anything irregular about the store, but they soon become close to the point that Chris kisses Macey. Chris later discovers that the video tapes in the store have small bags of cocaine in them, and soon finds out that the surveillance operation towards the video store was actually linked to drugs, not fraud, and that Rawlinson owns the video store. Harris intends to charge Macey for drug trafficking, but Chris and Danni, believing that Macey was innocent, convince him to let Chris go undercover to investigate Macey’s boss Steve Sinclair, and to cause tension between Rawlinson and Sinclair by cutting the cocaine with baking powder, Chris manages to do this despite her not telling Macey, who slaps Chris when she confronts her about not telling her about it. The plan ultimately backfires however, as Rawlinson shows up and attacks Sinclair, biting his nose off, before shutting down his drug operation. 
Intending to lure Rawlinson back into the frame, Danni decides to go undercover, and shows up to the video rental store to talk to Rawlinson while Chris and Macey are there, managing to convince him to supply her with half a kilo of cocaine. However, some time later, Sinclair shows up to the store and attacks Macey in front of Chris, accusing her of cutting the cocaine that led to Rawlinson biting his nose off, this causes Macey to accidently blow Chris' cover. When Chris tells Danni her cover was blown, Danni tells her not to inform Harris about this, as he will renege on Macey's deal if the operation falls apart, Chris listens as Danni decides to continue on with setting up the meeting with Rawlinson. However, the deal never takes place as Rawlinson is later found dead in his car, having been shot in the head. Harris later accuses Macey of being responsible for Rawlinson’s murder, and decides to renege on Macey’s deal and charge her with drug trafficking, but Danni admits to Harris that Chris' cover was blown to Sinclair, soon leading to Danni's resignation. Chris later visits Macey in her jail cell and promises her that she'll get her released, before she kisses Macey, who jokingly tells her she's a lousy kisser before they part ways. 
Halfway through season eight, Chris becomes re-acquainted with an old friend Karl Evans, who reveals to Chris that he’s gay, which she somewhat already knew and is happy for him opening up about his sexuality. Karl then reveals to Chris that he knows about a crime that has been committed, and wants to make an official statement to her about it, but they are interrupted by Karl's boyfriend, who is introduced to Chris before they leave her to go on a date. The next day, Chris becomes devastated when she receives a call informing her that Karl is dead, apparently committing suicide. However, Chris refuses to believe that Karl killed himself, and becomes more convinced that he was murdered while at his funeral when she meets several of his other friends Boofa, Robbo and Lordy, who had known him from school. Chris gets Harris’ daughter Katherine Marks to help her track Karl’s movements prior to his death, where they find part of Karl’s torn necklace. Chris soon finds proof that Karl was murdered when she and Leo break into Karl’s house and find traces of his blood. Karl’s murder is later tied to another murder case that Katherine was investigating as they’re both connected to an ex-communicated priest named Michael Swann, who used to be the choir teacher at Karl’s school, while the other murder victim Frank Donaldson, also worked as the school when Karl was a student. Chris and the unit later discover that Karl was likely sexually abused by both Swann and Donaldson, believing that this was the crime that Karl wanted to report to her about, and she later meets with Boofa, Robbo, and Lordy at the pub. When Chris mentions Swann to them, Boofa and Robbo remain silent, while Lordy derides both Swann and Donaldson, stating that the latter got what he deserved, while also mentioning the mutilation that Donaldson suffered, which was kept from press. This convinces Chris that they’re at least responsible for Donaldson’s murder, and asks Harris to place the three of them under surveillance. Chris later meets with the three of them once again while Boofa and Robbo is leaving, and she tries to ask Lordy more about Donaldson and Swann, but this time he reveals little, and leaves the pub, only to try and attack Leo when he notices him going through Boofa’s car, but before he can reach Leo, Lordy gets arrested by Church, and Leo shows Chris the cricket bat with traces of blood which was in Boofa’s car. Lordy later admits that him, Robbo and Boofa killed Donaldson as they, along with Karl were abused by Swann and Donaldson. However, after forensics finds the rest of Karl’s necklace in Boofa’s car, Chris realizes that Boofa killed Karl, and with the help of Leo, she tracks down both his and Robbo’s location while they are torturing Swann, and she confronts Boofa over Karl’s death, prompting Robbo to also confront Boofa as well, who finally admits that he accidently killed Karl since he was going to go to the police, more specifically telling Chris, about Swann and Donaldson’s abuse, causing Boofa to become scared that he’d be considered a freak. Chris arrests both Boofa and Robbo for Donaldson’s murder, while Boofa is also charged with manslaughter over Karl’s death. Harris later tells Chris that Swann will be charged for sexually abusing Karl and his friends.
 
==Gallery==
Angie Piper and Christina Dichiera Stingers season 7 promotional image.jpg|Promotional image of Jacinta Stapleton and Kate Kendall as Christina Dichiera and Angie Piper for season seven.
Christina Dichiera (Jacinta Stapleton) - season 8 opening credit for Stingers.gif|Chris' opening credit for season eight.
Angie finds out Dichiera plans to resign from the unit.gif|Angie finds out that Chris is thinking of resigning from the unit.
Dichiera kisses Angie.gif|Chris kisses Angie, catching her off guard.
Angie rushes to Sam's side, while Masters calls for an ambulance.gif|Chris and Reg Masters rush to Angie's side as she checks up on her sister Samantha after accidently shooting her during the fight with Tedesco, while Masters calls for an ambulance.
The unit mocks Kemp's disguise.gif|Chris and Peter Church mock Dale Kemp for his awful disguise.
Kemp takes down and arrests Joseph Carter.gif|Chris pretends to arrest Church to maintain his cover, as Kemp takes down and arrests Joseph Carter.
Angie outsmarts Vanderbijl, as the unit arrives to arrest him.gif|Chris and the rest of the unit arrive to arrest Kepter Vanderbijl just moments after Angie outsmarted Vanderbijl into confessing to Sam's murder.
Dichiera is in danger from Richard Kline, and Angie decides to rescue her.gif|Chris is in danger from Richard Kline after her cover is blown, prompting Angie to go and rescue her.
Church shoots Richard Kline, after Kline tries to shoot Dichiera.gif|Chris avoids getting shot by Kline, who is himself shot by Church.
Angie confirms that Richard Kline is dead.gif|Chris looks on alongside Church as Angie confirms that Kline is dead.
Angie and Church tell Chatterly that Richard Kline was the serial killer.gif|Chris stands near Angie as she and Church tell Chatterly that Kline was the serial killer.
Angie and the unit find Richard Kline's 'trophies'.gif|Chris looks in horror as Leo Flynn finds Kline's 'trophies', confirming that Kline was the serial killer all along.
==Quotes==
TBA
==Trivia== 
*Chris appeared in 81 episodes of Stingers from 2002 to 2004, first appearing in the second episode of season six.
*Chris is the third and final cop on Stingers to move up the ranks (from Probationary Constable to Constable) after Ellen MacKenzie and Angie Piper.
*Chris is the only LGBT character in the main cast, as it's revealed early in season six that she is bisexual.
*Prior to her role as Chris, Jacinta Stapleton previously appeared in a season four episode of Stingers in 2001, in a villainous role as Kristen Rodgers.
*Jacinta Stapleton’s older brother, Sullivan Stapleton, also made an appearance in a season two episode of Stingers in 1999, where he played Peter Church’s drug-addicted nephew Matt Wilmot.
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