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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Ms Gobbo fed police information about Mokbel while acting as his lawyer, including when he absconded to Greece and upon his return to stand trial. Mokbel argues that the conduct of Ms Gobbo and Victoria Police meant his extradition and subsequent prosecution were “fundamentally flawed” and is seeking to have his convictions overturned.
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Justice Fullerton’s findings were also scathing of Victoria Police and former chief commissioner Simon Overland. “I was unable to conceive of how or why it was not obvious to officers in senior command, including Mr Overland, that there were obvious legal risks … in registering and using her [Ms Gobbo] as an informer against her current clients,” she said. “There is every likelihood that Victoria Police would have been advised against registering her as an informer at all, so great were the legal and ethical risks in doing so.” Justice Fullerton said that, on the balance of probabilities, she was satisfied the elements of a joint criminal enterprise to pervert the course of justice were made out and four members of Victoria Police participated with Ms Gobbo to achieve an unlawful objective. “Mr Gobbo’s registration was itself improper, in the sense that it was contrary to the acceptable standards of behaviour to which police officers are expected to adhere,” she said."
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PASSAGE THREE OF THE DAY: "Justice Fullerton said she did not accept that concerns for Ms Gobbo’s safety justified repeated failures by police to discharge obligations to disclose Ms Gobbo’s role as an informer to the court and Mokbel. Justice Fullerton said Ms Gobbo’s primary motivation for becoming an informer was to “work hand in glove” with police to ensure Mokbel was prosecuted and convicted. “On repeated occasions, she spoke in derogatory terms about him, and his conduct in her view as a career criminal and her desire to be rid of him as her client,” Justice Fullerton said. But she said for many years before this, Ms Gobbo was “apparently enjoying the benefits” of the profile she was acquiring with Mokbel as her primary client, and that there was also likely a “psychological” dimension to Ms Gobbo’s motivation and her “apparent enjoyment at being an informer”.
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PASSAGE FOUR OF THE DAY "ustice Fullerton said Ms Gobbo’s conduct constituted a “fundamental and deliberate breach” of her legal and ethical obligations. Her findings on 24 questions of fact will inform the Court of Appeal in its decision as to whether Mr Mokbel’s drug trafficking convictions should stand."
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STORY: "GET TONY’: GOBBO AND COPS JOINED AT THE HIP IN PLOT TO BRING DOWN MOKBEL," by Lily McCaffrey, published by The Australian, on November 25, 2024.
GIST: Victoria Police and barrister-turned-police informer Nicola Gobbo engaged in a “joint criminal enterprise” to pervert the course of justice in order to bring down Melbourne underworld figure Tony Mokbel, a Supreme Court judge has held.
In her finding of facts, judge Elizabeth Fullerton also held that former Victorian director of public prosecutions John Champion breached his duties by failing to disclose to Mokbel that his barrister, Ms Gobbo, had been secretly informing against him to police.
Mokbel, who is serving 26 years in prison, is appealing following the Lawyer X scandal revealed Ms Gobbo’s double life as an informer.
Ms Gobbo fed police information about Mokbel while acting as his lawyer, including when he absconded to Greece and upon his return to stand trial. Mokbel argues that the conduct of Ms Gobbo and Victoria Police meant his extradition and subsequent prosecution were “fundamentally flawed” and is seeking to have his convictions overturned.
On Monday, the drug kingpin was escorted into the Supreme Court by two security officers.
He sat in the dock wearing a suit and white shirt, and smiled while saying hello to his lawyers.
Justice Fullerton held that Ms Gobbo’s role as a registered informer was revealed to Mr Champion, now a judge of the Supreme Court, at a meeting with senior police members in September 2012.
“I was satisfied the director had sufficient information as at September 2012 to activate his independent duty of disclosure and that he failed to do so in breach of that duty,” she said.
“I was unable to comfortably reach a conclusion as to why the director breached his duty of
disclosure … other than as a result of it being an error of judgment.”
Justice Fullerton’s findings were also scathing of Victoria Police and former chief commissioner Simon Overland.
“I was unable to conceive of how or why it was not obvious to officers in senior command, including Mr Overland, that there were obvious legal risks … in registering and using her [Ms Gobbo] as an nformer against her current clients,” she said. “There is every likelihood that Victoria Police would have been advised against registering her as an informer at all, so great were the legal and ethical risks in doing so.”
Justice Fullerton said that, on the balance of probabilities, she was satisfied the elements of a joint criminal enterprise to pervert the course of justice were made out and four members of Victoria Police participated with Ms Gobbo to achieve an unlawful objective.
“Mr Gobbo’s registration was itself improper, in the sense that it was contrary to the acceptable standards of behaviour to which police officers are expected to adhere,” she said.
Justice Fullerton said she did not accept that concerns for Ms Gobbo’s safety justified repeated failures by police to discharge obligations to disclose Ms Gobbo’s role as an informer to the court and Mokbel.
Justice Fullerton said Ms Gobbo’s primary motivation for becoming an informer was to “work hand in glove” with police to ensure Mokbel was prosecuted and convicted.
“On repeated occasions, she spoke in derogatory terms about him, and his conduct in her view as a career criminal and her desire to be rid of him as her client,” Justice Fullerton said.
But she said for many years before this, Ms Gobbo was “apparently enjoying the benefits” of the profile she was acquiring with Mokbel as her primary client, and that there was also likely a “psychological” dimension to Ms Gobbo’s motivation and her “apparent enjoyment at being an informer”.
Justice Fullerton said Ms Gobbo’s conduct constituted a “fundamental and deliberate breach” of her egal and ethical obligations. Her findings on 24 questions of fact will inform the Court of Appeal in its decision as to whether Mr Mokbel’s drug trafficking convictions should stand."
The entire story ca be read at:
http://netk.net.au/Victoria/Victoria79.pdf
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
- SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
