After the sting, Gobbo said she "wanted to be appreciated" for her help in the major operation.
— Genevieve Alison (@GenevieveAlison) February 6, 2020
She was taken out to dinner with her handlers presented her with a silver pen. "Yep and what an awful night that was." @theheraldsun #LawyerX
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.
Updates
The Royal Commission is taking a short lunch break after an emotionally-charged morning of evidence from Nicola Gobbo.
Here's what transpired:
– Gobbo said she continued to represent multiple gangland figures despite major conflict and threats to her safety because she "wanted to belong".
– "I wanted to be the holder of every bit of information about every drug trafficker up and down the supply chain … As pathetic as it sounds (it was) my inability to say no and my need to be wanted or to be valued or feel valued."
– Gobbo wrote a letter to Assistant Commissioner Stephen Fontana in 2015 in regards to seeking a reward for her help in nailing multiple gangland murder convictions. She said she was told by police to list her "Top 10" targets and really "beef up" her application.
– She now says what she wrote in the letter was "an exaggeration" and her knowledge of her involvement was based on what she was told by police.
– Gobbo was quizzed on her involvement with two men, we're calling them Thomas and McGrath, who were involved in a gangland murder in 2004. Gobbo altered McGrath's statement to police which implicated Thomas while representing them both.
– She has admitted her conduct was "improper" and was majorly conflicted but she couldn't refuse to act for Thomas because it would expose her double dealing and "not being killed would've been my priority".
– We spent a lot of time talking about a female lawyer, "Solicitor 2", who Gobbo has a strong dislike of and was passing information about to Purana detective Stuart Bateson about.
– Gobbo said Solicitor 2 and Tony Mokbel were having an "intimate relationship" and she struggled to reason with Mokbel because of it.
– Asked if she was jealous of Solicitor 2, Gobbo said she derived "self-importance" from being wanted by people like Mokbel.
– She said she became an official police informer in 2005 because she wanted the Mokbel's "out of her life" and walking away, even after her stroke a year earlier, wasn't an option.
– On her stroke, Gobbo said "every criminal in Melbourne" went to visit her in hospital. So much so, she had to move rooms because there were "so many people". But not a single one of them was a police officer.
What happened this morning
The Royal Commission is taking a short lunch break after an emotionally-charged morning of evidence from Nicola Gobbo.
Here's what transpired:
– Gobbo said she continued to represent multiple gangland figures despite major conflict and threats to her safety because she "wanted to belong".
– "I wanted to be the holder of every bit of information about every drug trafficker up and down the supply chain … As pathetic as it sounds (it was) my inability to say no and my need to be wanted or to be valued or feel valued."
– Gobbo wrote a letter to Assistant Commissioner Stephen Fontana in 2015 in regards to seeking a reward for her help in nailing multiple gangland murder convictions. She said she was told by police to list her "Top 10" targets and really "beef up" her application.
– She now says what she wrote in the letter was "an exaggeration" and her knowledge of her involvement was based on what she was told by police.
– Gobbo was quizzed on her involvement with two men, we're calling them Thomas and McGrath, who were involved in a gangland murder in 2004. Gobbo altered McGrath's statement to police which implicated Thomas while representing them both.
– She has admitted her conduct was "improper" and was majorly conflicted but she couldn't refuse to act for Thomas because it would expose her double dealing and "not being killed would've been my priority".
– We spent a lot of time talking about a female lawyer, "Solicitor 2", who Gobbo has a strong dislike of and was passing information about to Purana detective Stuart Bateson about.
– Gobbo said Solicitor 2 and Tony Mokbel were having an "intimate relationship" and she struggled to reason with Mokbel because of it.
– Asked if she was jealous of Solicitor 2, Gobbo said she derived "self-importance" from being wanted by people like Mokbel.
– She said she became an official police informer in 2005 because she wanted the Mokbel's "out of her life" and walking away, even after her stroke a year earlier, wasn't an option.
– On her stroke, Gobbo said "every criminal in Melbourne" went to visit her in hospital. So much so, she had to move rooms because there were "so many people". But not a single one of them was a police officer.