‘Hazmat suits’: Court hears bizarre bash and kidnap claims involving top lawyer Pat Lennon

Mick Gatto’s lawyer, Pat Lennon, is alleged to have been among three men who invaded a disabled man’s home as the high-profile practitioner faces fresh drug driving charges and an official investigation.

Danny Nikolic and Pat Lennon. Picture: David Geraghty / The Australian

EXCLUSIVE: Mick Gatto’s lawyer and two men in hazmat suits have been accused of breaking into a Box Hill home, bashing, robbing and kidnapping the disabled man who lived there.

Court documents allege that in April, 2021 Pat Lennon, who has also represented former champion jockey Danny Nikolic, helped throw the man out of the house he had lived in for 34 years.

The eviction, during which “thugs” allegedly broke the man’s ribs, was part of a bitter dispute over the house between members of a Melbourne family.

Following the eviction the property was sold for $912,000, sparking a further legal dispute, which is still before the courts, over the fate of the proceeds.

News Corp can also reveal that Mr Lennon has been charged with drug driving offences and is set to face a first hearing at the Magistrates Court in Shepparton in March.

He is also under investigation by the Victorian legal regulator, Legal Services Commissioner Fiona McLeay, who has issued an unusual appeal for people with information about him and his wife, Jane Lennon, to come forward.

Mick Gatto is a famous client of Pat Lennon. Picture: Getty Images

Danny Nikolic (right) and girlfriend Tania Hyett also have ties to Pat Lennon. Picture: AAP

His fresh legal woes come as Mr Lennon prepares to fight separate criminal charges of attempted ice possession and ice trafficking in a court hearing in May.

The lawyer is suing the Herald Sun for defamation over a story published about these charges.

He is also attempting to stave off bankruptcy at the hands of barristers who claim he hasn’t paid his bills.

The alleged victim of the home invasion said the three men, who are also alleged to have included the victim’s brother, arrived at about 10pm and claimed to be members of a psychiatric crisis assessment and treatment — or CAT — team.

“The back door of the Box Hill property was kicked in by Pat Lennon and two men dressed in white hazmat suits,” the man said in an affidavit filed with the Victorian Supreme Court.

“I was sitting in the lounge room watching a movie on the TV, they picked me up and dragged me out of the chair, I was then punched in the rib before they began to search my body,” the man said.

He said the men also took his wallet and attempted to take his watch before bundling him into a car, driving him to a motel and throwing him onto the floor, “where I lay for seven or eight hours until the sun had risen”.

The man said he was then taken to his brother’s house in Richmond, where he was allowed to call his daughter.

He said his daughter phoned the police, who interviewed him and arranged emergency accommodation.

In an affidavit, a family member said the assault resulted in the man being sent to hospital with two broken ribs and dehydration.

Pat Lennon, second from the left foreground, is facing a string of allegations and is under official investigation. Picture: AAP

The affidavits were read and relied on by the judge who heard the case, Associate Justice Ian Irving, but he did not make any ruling about the assault and kidnapping allegations.

The man’s brother told the court the Box Hill house was “a health hazard” because it was “overflowing with furniture, clothes and miscellaneous items that ought to have been discarded years ago”.

In an affidavit, he said that “due to Covid-19 I agreed with my sister in law that desperate times called for desperate measures and I had no option (very regrettably) but to forcibly remove” the man from the property.

“I engaged Lennon Lawyers to assist with removing [him] using self-help and ensuring that we did so legally, with the use of minimum force,” he said.

According to court documents, the eviction was financed by $140,000, borrowed from Argyle Lending – a high interest lender run by Jane Lennon who is also a lawyer.

Several judges have made rulings criticising Pat or Jane Lennon over the past two years. In June last year, Supreme Court Associate Justice Patricia Matthews referred the couple to the Legal Services Commissioner over their behaviour in a separate case that also involved Argyle Lending.

However, Ms McLeay has not taken any action against the couple.

Last month, bankruptcy proceedings against Mr Lennon, brought by two barristers who claim to be owed $54,000 in unpaid fees, were put off until next month.

Appearing by video link from his CBD office, he told a Federal Circuit Court hearing in Melbourne that he should not be declared bankrupt because he was solvent, but needed time to assemble evidence supporting his position.

The bankruptcy case returns to court on February 8.

Mr Lennon did not respond to questions.