‘Legal fallacy’ over Nicola Gobbo kept top cop in dark

Simon Overland did not share the detailed strength, weakness, opportunities and threats assessment of Nicola Gobbo.

Former Victoria Police chief commissioner Simon Overland. Picture: AAP

One of Victoria’s top police officers has described the assessment of lawyer Nicola Gobbo used to avoid disclosing her history of acting as a police informant in a murder case as a “legal fallacy”.

Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius told the royal commission into the management of police informants on Friday that Simon Overland did not share the detailed strength, weakness, opportunities and threats (SWOT) assessment of Ms Gobbo with him or other members of the Petra steering committee.

This is despite the taskforce overseeing the police investi­gation into the 2004 murder of Terrence and Christine Hodson, for which Ms Gobbo was called as a witness against drug squad ­detective Paul Dale. “I think I was not told information because ­people made the assessment that I didn’t need to know,” he said.

The analysis included a “break barrier”, which counsel assisting, Megan Tittensor, told the commission meant the point Ms Gobbo ceased to be an informant and became a witness, meaning she did not have to disclose her history of informing. “What ­becomes apparent through an analysis of the ­material is that it means that once she becomes a witness, we can say the SDU mat­erial is not relevant, so we don’t need to disclose it,” she said.

Ms Gobbo wore a wire on ­behalf of Victoria Police in an ­attempt to record Mr Dale confessing to the execution-style killing of the Hodsons in December 2008 before she was transitioned as a witness in the case against the drug squad detective.

Mr Cornelius said he did not believe the “break barrier” ­absolved the criminal barrister of her ethical responsibilities. “This so-called break point or whatever it’s called — I mean it’s a bit of a legal fallacy, isn’t it,” he said.

“I don’t understand what basis there is for saying that adopting this approach is in some way going to wash away your disclosure obligations.”

Ms Gobbo was a criminal ­defence barrister who represented underworld heavies such as Tony Mokbel at the height of Melbourne’s gangland wars. She was also informing on her ­clients to Victoria Police and in 2009 moved from being a police informer to a witness in the murder case against Mr Dale, but never appeared.

Mr Cornelius said if he’d seen the SWOT analysis, he would have taken steps to rectify the risks identified.