Nicola Gobbo: "Do I regret it? Yes, every day." And that's the end of her evidence for day two @theheraldsun #LawyerX
— Genevieve Alison (@GenevieveAlison) February 5, 2020
Nicola Gobbo returns to Lawyer X royal commission
Nicola Gobbo has sensationally denied that she told police a suspect in the killing of "vampire’’ gigolo Shane Chartres-Abbott ever confessed the murder to her.
Gangland snitch Nicola Gobbo could ignite another corruption probe after claiming police concocted a confession in the vampire gigolo murder case.
The barrister turned police informer on Wednesday denied she told police a key suspect in the slaying of vampire gigolo Shane Chartres-Abbott confessed the murder to her.
A shock statement supposedly written by Gobbo in 2009 and unearthed by the royal commission last year, contained details of an explosive confession by Mark Perry to the 2003 killing of Chartres-Abbott.
But during her second day of evidence before the inquiry examining the legal crisis, Gobbo vehemently denied any knowledge of the confession and claimed she had never met Mr Perry.
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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 June 2003.
The investigation into his murder was the most expensive in Victoria’s history, costing more than $30 million. Mr Perry was eventually acquitted of the murder by a Supreme Court jury in 2014.
Gobbo on Wednesday told the commission she had never seen her statement until she read about it in the Herald Sun last year.
“I have never seen this statement and never signed a final version,’’ she said.
Veteran homicide detective Ron Iddles, who took Gobbo’s statement while in Bali with his supervisor, Detective Inspector Steve Waddell, also denied any knowledge of the confession.
Gobbo said the statement she worked on with the officers had “gaps” and was intended to be fact-checked before she signed it.
In Ms Gobbo’s statement to the royal commission, made public yesterday, she said: “I have seen a draft statement relating to Operation Briars.“I can say that, during the taking of that statement in Bali, I did not say that Mark Perry confessed to me.
“It must have been added without my knowledge. I assume it must have been added by Det Waddell, but that is a matter for him to answer.’’Gobbo also said Mr Iddles warned her against transitioning from informer to witness, saying former police chief Simon Overland would “burn her”.
“The last thing that Ron Iddles said to me was to not do it, to not be a witness,” Gobbo said. “He said Simon Overland would burn me and not to trust him. It wasn’t given in a nasty fashion, I interpreted it as fatherly advice not to trust Overland.”
Mr Iddles refused to allow Gobbo to sign the statement after coming to understand the extent of her police informing.
The Herald Sun has been told it is possible the statement was altered by police without Ms Gobbo’s knowledge to support an affidavit to a court.Gobbo’s statement was never produced to any court.
There have been internal police investigations into how the statement was altered. In her testimony on Wednesday, Gobbo said she raised concerns about making a statement in the investigation for fear of being exposed as a secret police informer. “I kept being told, ‘no, don’t worry about it … we’ll protect you’,” she said.
Asked by lead counsel Chris Winneke QC why she didn’t cut ties with Victoria Police and her underworld clients after a stroke in 2004, Gobbo said she “didn’t want to let people down”.
“I felt trapped and should have, would have, could have is a nice way to put it now, but it isn’t what happened,” she said. “Do I regret it? Yes, every day.”
Her evidence continues on Thursday.
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