Lawyer X fears for her children’s mental health, slams Victoria Police protection

Barrister-turned-police informer Nicola Gobbo has revealed how she fled Australia under a new identity but returned home months later to be greeted by officials with ‘hello, Lawyer X’.

Lawyer Nicola Gobbo is suing Victoria Police.

You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback.

You can now listen to The Australian's articles.

Barrister-turned-police informer Nicola Gobbo has revealed how she fled Australia and acquired a new identity but returned home months later only to be greeted by officials with “hello Lawyer X”.

Ms Gobbo told the Supreme Court on Thursday she was placed in Victoria Police’s custody and taken overseas with her children in late 2018 in the months leading up to the public revelation of her identity as Lawyer X.

Ms Gobbo, who is suing the state in connection with its alleged negligence in its use of her as a police informer, said that by early 2019 her family were living in a hotel room under Victoria Police’s care.

She said her family were “basically doing tourist things in one of the most expensive cities in the world”, with the force paying for accommodation and “some medical bills”.

But after about three months, Ms Gobbo and Victoria Police parted ways and officers returned to Melbourne.

“Ultimately we parted ways because of issues arising about what the future held, them not being able to provide me with any kind of actual answers to questions or detail … their absolute stance that my child could not attend the school that was appropriate,” Ms Gobbo said.

In late 2019, Ms Gobbo said she decided to return to Australia because her health was in a “parlous state”, she wanted her children to see their father, she was having visa issues and she needed to deal with matters arising from the Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants.

Despite having a new identity, Ms Gobbo said she was greeted by officials on her return to Australia with “hello, Lawyer X”.

Ms Gobbo told the court that on her return to Victoria, she was subject to Victoria Police’s supervision “24 hours a day, seven days a week”, and was “required to abide by any lawful direction of Victoria Police, including where to reside”.

Ms Gobbo told the court she regarded that time of her life as a “period of imprisonment”.

“I couldn’t even step out on the front of the property without being told to get back inside,” she said.

Ms Gobbo detailed one botched police operation in which her family were whisked away from their home at 4am one day after police spotted what they described as a “highly suspicious” man walking past the house.

Despite her partner saying the man was a local, Ms Gobbo said police told her they foiled a “Hodson-style gangland hit” by following the man in a “military-style operation” with cloned car number plates.

But the man did turn out to just be a neighbour who was interested in the family’s house.

Ms Gobbo told the court about another incident in which a confidential statement she provided to the Office of the Special Investigator was leaked to The Age newspaper within 24 hours of it being provided to the DPP.

Ms Gobbo became emotional as she discussed the toll her family’s life in hiding had taken on her children.

She said her children “couldn’t understand why there were cameras in the trees watching them”, and that in 2021 her oldest child expressed the desire to kill herself.

Ms Gobbo told the court the past six years had left her “tired” and “broken”, and she wanted a “normal life”, but explained she had a “tremendous obligation” to keep going for the sake of her children.

“If it wasn’t for them, or for my partner, I don’t know that I would see a point in living,” she said.

Ms Gobbo’s testimony continues on Friday.