Nicola Gobbo continues giving evidence at the royal commission
Nicola Gobbo returned to the Lawyer X royal commission to give evidence for a third day, admitting she kept representing gangland figures because she "wanted to belong", and revealing she felt threatened when Tony Mokbel took on a new female lawyer.
Gangland barrister turned informer Nicola Gobbo has admitted she may have perverted the course of justice when she helped police arrest her own client in an elaborate sting, the royal commission has heard.
The woman dubbed Lawyer X — giving evidence by audio feed from an undisclosed overseas location — on Thursday opened up to the Melbourne hearing about her motivation for representing underworld figures despite personal conflicts and ethical issues, saying she “just wanted to belong”.
On her third day giving evidence to the inquiry probing the scandal, Gobbo said she knew she was acting improperly when she continued to give legal advice to a man facing major drug charges after helping police catch him.
Asked by lead counsel Chris Winneke QC if she accepted she acted as an agent of police rather than an independent legal practitioner, she agreed.Mr Winneke: “And you were aware that by … providing advice to him you were in effect doing things which would have a tendency to pervert the course of justice?”
“Potentially,” she replied.
The commission heard after the arrest, Gobbo wanted investigators to thank her for her role in the sting.
“I wanted to be appreciated,” she said.She was later taken out to dinner at a swanky golf club by her handlers, who presented her with a single silver pen.
“And what an awful night that was,” Gobbo said.
The snitching lawyer also said she: altered the statement of one client to implicate another client in a gangland murder; wanted a reward in 2015 for providing “pivotal” information to police in numerous prosecutions; was visited by “every criminal in Melbourne” while recovering from a stroke in 2004; and snitched on another female lawyer whom she believed was having an affair with Tony Mokbel.
Asked by Mr Winneke if she was jealous of that woman, Gobbo said she wanted to be wanted by Mokbel.
“As pathetic as it is for me to admit … I did derive some self-importance and some feeling that I was relevant or validated by reason of being wanted by people like Tony (Mokbel).”
She said she later began informing on him and his associates as she wanted the Mokbels “out of her life”. And admitted she “wanted a tram to hit me” as she didn’t know how to escape the situation.
Gobbo will continue her evidence on Friday.