EXCLUSIVE: Lawyer X victim’s first interview after release from prison
In an exclusive interview, Faruk Orman says he hopes to move on with his life after he was today sensationally acquitted of murder following the Lawyer X scandal.
Law & Order
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Faruk Orman’s murder acquittal due to the Lawyer X scandal is set to trigger criminal probes into the conduct of Nicola Gobbo, Victoria Police and prosecutors.
Mr Orman, 37, walked free from the Supreme Court yesterday after spending 12 years in jail over the execution of infamous underworld heavy Victor Peirce, shot dead in his car in Port Melbourne in 2002.
Mr Orman wiped tears from his eyes as Court of Appeal president Chris Maxwell acquitted him — the first gang war conviction to be overturned as a result of Victoria Police’s recruitment of Gobbo as a secret informer on her clients.
As Mr Orman celebrated his release with a large contingent of family and friends, he last night told the Herald Sun, which exposed the scandal, of his relief.
SCROLL DOWN TO READ MR ORMAN’S FULL STATEMENT
“I’m so happy to be out with my family and I’m just trying to take it all in,” he said.
“Being able to be out in Melbourne and having a coffee with my family is just unbelievable. I am thankful for the court saying that a miscarriage of justice happened here and that the police and Gobbo caused all of this.
“I now want to try and move on with my life.’’
The Herald Sun can now exclusively reveal details of Mr Orman’s petition for mercy.
It sensationally claims the prosecution in the murder case knew that Gobbo, who was defending Mr Orman, had earlier represented the star witness against him — known as Witness Q — at the Australian Crime Commission.
But the prosecution never disclosed its full knowledge of Gobbo’s conflict, it asserts.
Crown prosecutor Geoffrey Horgan, QC, cross-examined Witness Q at the crime commission before he prosecuted Mr Orman.
The Herald Sun can also now reveal:
- Gobbo was aware that Witness Q, whose evidence was key in convicting Mr Orman, had told 30 to 40 lies in the ACC hearing and she told police so;
- Witness Q visited Gobbo, who was his power of attorney, in hospital after she had a stroke in 2004, while she also went to the birthday party of his daughter;
- Gobbo told police to “put him straight’’ when Witness Q considered refusing to testify against Mr Orman.
She also told police to argue against allowing Mr Orman’s senior barrister Robert Richter, QC, to subpoena information from the ACC, fearing it would expose his lies and her duplicity.
In an unprecedented case yesterday, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Kerri Judd, QC, conceded a “substantial miscarriage of justice” had occurred as a result of Ms Gobbo’s conduct, singling out her improper actions in November 2007.
“On November 9, 2007, at a time when she was engaged to act on behalf of Mr Orman, Ms Gobbo improperly took active steps to ensure that Witness Q gave evidence against Mr Orman in the murder trial,’’ Ms Judd said.
Purana detectives duly visited Witness Q in Barwon Prison to ensure he gave evidence at Mr Orman’s trial.
Mr Orman was driven away in a Mercedes van yesterday after walking out of the Supreme Court and thanking his lawyers.
Inside the court, his barrister, Paul Smallwood, described Gobbo’s actions as “outrageous conduct’’.
In his submission, he said: “There has been a substantial miscarriage of justice in this case, a substantial miscarriage which has now come to light despite the steps that Victoria Police — in many proceedings over many years — have taken to resist disclosure (of police documents).’’
He described the consequences for Mr Orman as “incalculably tragic’’.
Court of Appeal president Chris Maxwell said Gobbo’s conduct “was a fundamental breach of her duties to Mr Orman and to the court”.
“On the facts as conceded, Ms Gobbo’s conduct subverted Mr Orman’s right to a fair trial, and went to the very foundations of the system of criminal trial,” he said.
Mr Orman’s solicitor, Ruth Parker, will push for a judicial inquiry. “She (Gobbo) set Faruk up, she set him up,” Ms Parker said.
“To be robbed of 12 years of your life is absolutely appalling. There are those in power who should have done something but they didn’t … The first time he knew about it was when you (Herald Sun) wrote about it.”
Mr Richter said he was “absolutely delighted by the result”. Mr Orman had been kept in isolation for two years, in an effort to break his will.
“I would expect that he will be entitled to significant compensation,” he added. “I would imagine seven figures rather than six.”
Legal experts say Gobbo might face charges including perverting the course of justice and gaining financial advantage by deception. Misconduct offences could be brought against police and prosecutors.
Mr Orman had long ago exhausted his appeal avenues and launched a petition of mercy only after the Herald Sun’s revelations that Gobbo was a police informer.
MORE PRISONERS COULD WALK FREE
Other prisoners appealing their convictions on the Lawyer X principle are drug lord Tony Mokbel, ecstasy trafficker Rob Karam and methamphetamine cook Zlate Cvetanovski.
The High Court of Australia in November described Victoria Police’s use of Gobbo to inform on her clients as “reprehensible conduct’’, prompting a Royal Commission.
Mr Orman, who had already served 12 years of a 14-year minimum sentence, could also sue for millions of dollars.
The Barwon Prison inmate has always maintained his innocence. His 2009 conviction is significant because it was a circumstantial prosecution.
It is a month since the state’s attorney general, Jill Hennessy, granted Mr Orman’s petition for mercy, reviving his appeal process against his murder conviction.
He was alleged to have been the driver for hitman Andrew “Benji’’ Veniamin in the 2002 shooting of Peirce in Bay St, Port Melbourne.
The case against him relied heavily on the evidence of a criminal associate, who had also been represented by Gobbo.
EVERY TWIST AND TURN IN LAWYER X SCANDAL
HOW NICOLA GOBBO PLAYED BOTH SIDES
In an extraordinary statement on June 26 this year, Ms Hennessy said: “Based on the material provided by Mr Orman’s lawyers, I am satisfied there is credible evidence that there may have been a miscarriage of justice in Mr Orman’s case arising from Nicola Gobbo’s conduct and use as a human source by Victoria Police.”
READ THE COURT’S STATEMENT IN FULL
Mr Orman had previously exhausted his appeal options after taking his case to the High Court of Australia, which was unsuccessful.
Earlier this month, Justice Maxwell expressed “serious concerns’’ over the conviction.
Mr Orman is the only jailed person affected by Lawyer X who has been given significant disclosure from police about Gobbo’s informing on him.