Lawyer X royal commission hears of her secret statement in Shane Chartres-Abbott killing
Shocking evidence has revealed Nicola Gobbo made a secret statement over the 2003 vampire gigolo killing. But a jury never heard it - this is why.
Law & Order
Don't miss out on the headlines from Law & Order. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A “confession” from the alleged killer of vampire gigolo Shane Chartres-Abbott was never heard by the jury because of fears it could expose Nicola Gobbo as a police informer.
The Lawyer X royal commission heard shocking evidence that Mark Perry, who in 2014 was found not guilty of the gangland execution, had told barrister Gobbo he did it.
Gobbo’s statement that Mark Perry confessed to her in 2003 was not signed and never shown to the jury in the murder trial, with the commission being told it was to prevent Gobbo’s status as an informer from being revealed.
Top cop Simon Overland ordered veteran detective Ron Iddles to go to Bali in 2009 to take evidence from Gobbo, but he refused to have her sign a statement.
Iddles, the chief investigator into the Chartres-Abbott murder, said he was worried it would expose her status as a registered informer and lead to a royal commission.
It is not clear if it is the same statement shown at the royal commission today.
Chartres-Abbott, a self-proclaimed vampire, was shot dead in 2003 on the day he was due in court over the brutal rape of Perry’s ex-girlfriend — an exotic dancer known as Penny.
The brutal daylight execution sent shockwaves throughout Victoria, but Perry and his co-accused Warren Shea and Evangelos Goussis were acquitted of the murder in July 2014.
The secret statement and its contents was revealed just one day after Attorney-General Jill Hennessy referred gangland killer Faruk Orman’s conviction to Victoria’s highest court due to the police’s use of Gobbo to inform on her clients.
In the statement, Gobbo said she was introduced to Perry in the offices of solicitor Jim Valos. She said after a short discussion Perry confessed to the murder.
“At some point during that encounter Valos was engaged in a telephone call and Perry started to tell me of his involvement in the murder of Chartres-Abbott,” Gobbo’s statement said.
“He told me that he had arranged for Chartres-Abbott to be murdered in retribution (to) the rape of a girlfriend or ex-girlfriend.”
Last night Mr Perry denied the allegation. He said: “I have never met the woman, I have never spoken to her.”
MORE NEWS: VICTORIAN DAD DIES FROM FLU
TOUGH TEST FOR OUR NEW TEACHERS
MELBOURNE’S THIRD RUNWAY ON HOLD AGAIN
Mr Valos also said it was “highly implausible” Perry had confessed to a murder to Gobbo and rejected the pair had been in his office together.
“I can’t recall it ever occurring and it certainly wasn’t in my presence,” Mr Valos said last night.
Police detective senior sergeant Peter Trichias, who was involved in the investigation, told the commission he was not sure why the document was never signed.
Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission Chris Winneke said the statement was, in effect, a confession to a murder and would be significant to the Chartres-Abbott murder case.
Mr Winneke said the statement might have been kept out of the murder brief because it included “detailed conversations” which happened years earlier and might have led defence lawyers or criminals to deduce Gobbo was reporting to police.