Report into Tony Mokbel’s Barwon Prison bashing due in weeks
Jail insiders say drug kingpin Tony Mokbel did not perceive any increased threat to his safety in the days before he was bashed in Barwon Prison but his recovery from the vicious attack is moving slowly.
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Drug kingpin Tony Mokbel is suffering memory lapses and has limited mobility as he continues his slow recovery from a near-fatal jail bashing in early February.
A report from a high-level investigation into the attack is due before the government later this month.
Jail insiders say Mokbel did not see any increased threat to him in the days before he was bashed, moving around Barwon Prison freely and alone.
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It is believed that footage of the brutal assault shows Mokbel losing consciousness as soon as his head hit the concrete floor. The attackers allegedly continued to stomp on him as he lay prone on the ground.
One day before the February 11 attack, frontline staff made requests to their Corrections Victoria superiors to increase the watch on Mokbel or shift him to a high-security unit. The independent investigation has centred on why this was deemed unnecessary.
It is understood the requests were made hours after the Sunday Herald Sun reported Mokbel had intervened to stop an inmate being targeted.
Mokbel himself was unperturbed about the threat to his safety, rejecting offers to move him.
He remains in St Augustine’s prison ward at the St Vincent’s Hospital.
Court of Appeal judge Justice David Ipp and former Queensland Corrections commissioner Mark Rallings are due to finish their report and submit it to the government by the end of April.
Teira Bennett and Eldea Teuira, both aged 21, have been charged with attempted murder over the Mokbel attack. They will appear in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on May 13.
A Victoria Police investigation continues. It is trying to establish, among other things, if the alleged attackers acted alone or were acting after inducement or persuasion from others. It is believed phone records of the duo are part of the inquiry.
Before he was attacked, Mokbel was keenly awaiting the royal commission examining the conduct of his former barrister Nicola Gobbo — known as Lawyer X.
The commission will examine if Mokbel’s convictions, among others, were unsafe after it was finally revealed that Gobbo was a police informer who snitched on her clients.
A Department of Justice and Community Safety spokesman said it would not comment until Judge Ipp’s review was complete.