Report points finger at jail authorities for Tony Mokbel prison attack
Tony Mokbel’s legal team is not ruling out the possibility of legal action over the bloody jailhouse assault that left the gangland fighting for his life. It comes after a review into the attack pointed the finger at jail authorities.
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Jail authorities did not follow policy in the period before a horrific attack on Tony Mokbel inside Barwon Prison, a report has found.
An independent review into the stabbing and bashing of Mokbel on February 11 said jail staff spoke to the drug kingpin and others a day after a Sunday Herald Sun story revealed he had intervened in an extortion racket being run by a group of Pacific Islander inmates.
The review, by former NSW Court of Appeal Judge David Ipp and ex-Queensland Corrective Services commissioner Dr Mark Railings, said Corrections Victoria could make improvements in its response to media articles on prisoners.
“The process taken to assess the risk was relatively brief and did not fully comply with Corrections Victoria policy,” they wrote.
The Ipp-Railings report noted staff took immediate action when Mokbel was attacked, responding courageously to get his assailants away.
The report’s recommendations included that CV strengthen its response to media reports, streamline procedures for the management of serious offenders and improve the collection, analysis and use of intelligence to inform decision-making.
Mokbel’s legal team said there was still a possibility of legal action against authorities over the assault.
“I wouldn’t discount it,” one of his senior lawyers said.
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Minister for Corrections Ben Carroll said: “All 16 of the reviews recommendations have been accepted with work already well underway to implement them.”
Two men have pleaded guilty over the Mokbel onslaught.
Teira Bennett and Eldea Teuira have pleaded guilty to charged of intentionally causing serious injury in circumstances of gross violence and recklessly causing injury to Mokbel and another prisoner who tried to help him.