Lawyer eroded confidence in system
Hailed by some as a hero, Nicola Gobbo was a greater threat to Victoria’s judicial system than any crook has ever been, writes Justin Quill.
Opinion
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Nicola Gobbo is seen by some as a hero.
The woman who risked all to help the police bring down a bunch of crooks who deserved to be in jail.
“Nicola Gobbo deserves a medal for helping to put away so many criminals,” some, such as Mike, have suggested on the Herald Sun letters pages.
But Nicola Gobbo is no hero. Gobbo is a villain.
Gobbo was a greater threat to Victoria’s judicial system than any crook has ever been.
Gobbo, and the Victoria Police officers who aided, abetted and orchestrated her devious doublecrossing risked undermining the judicial system to an extent that could have led to a total breakdown of law and order in Victoria.
Without a strong judicial system trusted by the public, chaos and lawlessness reign.
Gobbo was acting for people charged with very serious offences.
Some may have been guilty.
But some may have been innocent.
We will probably never know for certain.
But the role of a barrister is to do everything you can — within the law — to represent your client’s interests.
That may result in the client being found not guilty. It may not.
Strange as it may sound, the result isn’t that important.
What is important is the barrister working as hard as he or she can to give the person charged the best possible defence.
If the person gets off, then so be it. If they don’t, then also so be it.
Just imagine if you, or a loved one, was charged with an offence.
All you’d ask is for your barrister to be working for your best interests.
You wouldn’t expect, or even contemplate, the possibility your barrister might be helping those at the other end of the bar table.
But that’s exactly what Gobbo was doing.
In a duplicitous, deceitful and frankly disgusting move, Gobbo was going behind her clients’ backs to help police convict the people she was being paid to protect.
Today, we read about her handing over a critical document — that she was asked to look after by Rob Karam — to Victoria Police, allowing police to catch and convict him.
As soon as a barrister does that, then people charged with offences can’t trust them. Confidence in our system is eroded.
And without confidence people charged with an offence might start thinking they should just represent themselves.
Why would you take the risk trusting a barrister when you can’t guarantee that trust is warranted?
The system works better when people who know the law and understand the process defend people who are charged.
If individuals start defending themselves, trials will be aborted and wait times will blow out.
It would be disorderly and to everyone’s detriment.
So Gobbo had to be called out — and called out she was, by the High Court no less.
In deciding Gobbo’s identity could be revealed, the High Court said “(Gobbo’s) actions in purporting to act as counsel for the Convicted Persons while covertly informing against them were fundamental and appalling breaches of (her) obligations as counsel to her clients and of (her) duties to the court.”
But it’s not just Gobbo.
While she is the face of this scandal, Victoria Police is the arms and legs of it.
With an apparent disregard for the system, Victoria Police came up with the plan and implemented it.
As the High Court said, “Victoria Police were guilty of reprehensible conduct in knowingly encouraging (Gobbo) to do as she did and were involved in sanctioning atrocious breaches of the sworn duty of every police officer to discharge all duties imposed on them faithfully and according to law without favour or affection, malice or ill-will.”
Of course we are not taking about the vast majority of men and women in blue who wear their badges with pride and who protect us.
The criticism should be levelled only at those in Victoria Police responsible for the sorry saga of Lawyer X.
We’ve already seen the release of one person — Faruk Orman — who spent 12 years in jail for a crime he has always maintained he did not commit.
There’s likely to be more.
There’s a chance guilty men will walk free.
In fact, that’s likely.
But if that is the price to pay to restore the confidence in our legal system, then that’s a price we must pay.
Eighteenth century English jurist, judge and politician, Sir William Blackstone, is famous for creating “Blackstone’s Ratio”, accepted as an appropriate underpinning for our judicial system. It goes along the lines: “Better a thousand guilty men (or women now it’s the 21st Century!) go free, than one innocent man (or woman) be convicted.”
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If you didn’t throw out the cases Gobbo tainted, then where does it stop?
Why not just get rid of our courts, judges and juries and let Victoria Police decide when someone is guilty.
It’s a slippery slope.
Justin Quill is a media lawyer who appeared opposed to Gobbo many times