Lawyer X Royal Commission: Text message unravels Gobbo’s claims of police corruption
Snitch lawyer Nicola Gobbo’s sensational claims of police corruption have been undone by a single text message, forcing her to change her tune.
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Nicola Gobbo’s claims of corruption in a multimillion-dollar murder probe have been blasted by a single text message, forcing the barrister-turned-informer to walk back allegations police had doctored a confession in the vampire gigolo slaying.
After the gangland snitch last week denied she told police that a key suspect in the murder of Shane Chartres-Abbott ever confessed to her, Gobbo yesterday conceded she may have said it after all.
The Royal Commission into the Lawyer X scandal heard the defence barrister sent police a text message in October 2009 after reading media articles that convicted drug dealer Mark Perry was wanted for the 2003 murder and cops were offering a $1 million reward.
“Good to see that VicPol have finally broken the story on Mark Perry, the murderer I told Briars (taskforce) all about,” the text read.
“How f--king funny it is to be so instrumental yet treated with, at least, indifference. Circus,” Gobbo wrote.
The texts came after Gobbo had met detectives Ron Iddles and his then-boss Steve Waddell in Bali and made a draft statement about the murder.
The unsigned statement was unearthed by the commission last year and contained details of the explosive confession by Perry.
Gobbo last week said she had never even met Perry and in a written evidence, suggested Mr Waddell had added the confession to her statement without her knowledge.
Asked if she now accepted she had told Mr Waddell about the confession, she said: “it looks like it”.
The statement was never produced to any court and Mr Perry was ultimately acquitted of murder in 2014.
In a written statement to the commission, Gobbo said she believed Mr Iddles would confirm her claim that she did not tell police in Bali of Perry’s alleged confession.
Chartres-Abbott, who believed he was a 200-year-old vampire, was gunned down on his nature strip on the eve of his rape trial in May 2003.
The investigation into the execution and its possible links to police corruption is the most expensive in Victoria’s history, costing more than $30 million.
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Gobbo was yesterday presented with further evidence that she had in fact represented Perry as a client, contradicting her earlier claims she had never met him.
Mr Iddles and Mr Waddell are both expected to front the commission this week to give evidence on the stunning revelations.