Former Melbourne lawyer Pat Lennon has claimed he was repeatedly bashed by his ex-bodyguard during a lunch break in a 2022 County Court hearing in which Lennon was involved.
A recording of a conversation between Lennon and an associate also reveals his plan to seek retribution against those he considered responsible for providing information for articles published by The Age and the Herald Sun.
Former Melbourne lawyer Pat Lennon.Credit: Jesse Marlow
Lennon was appealing an earlier cost order when the alleged attack is said to have occurred in Queen Street on November 9, 2022. His barrister told the County Court his client may have sustained a broken jaw.
The second half of the hearing was adjourned after Lennon was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital and news of the alleged assault was temporarily suppressed by Judge Jeanette Morrish. The interim suppression order was lifted by Morrish on November 30, 2022.
According to a 28-minute recording obtained by The Age, Lennon said his jaw had not been broken, but he alleged he was headbutted, kicked and “rag-dolled” by his former bodyguard following a dispute over a debt.
“He must have known I was in court and this c---, he’s huge, he used to work for me ... he’s a beast, he’s 110 kilos,” Lennon claimed in the recording. “Just as we’re going out the doors, unbeknown to me, he’s lined me up and headbutted me on the side of the face f---ing hard and I’ve hit the wall and I don’t know if I was knocked out.
“I’m on me knees, and he kicks me full-on in the side of the head. This guy’s a beast, but I’ve got a hard head. It was good because I got an adjournment.”
Lennon told the associate that he was assaulted again by the same man about three weeks later, but said he refused to make a statement to police about either incident.
“Coppers took out a personal safety order, but I wouldn’t make a statement,” Lennon said.
The 60-year-old former lawyer also vowed to take revenge against those he suspected of assisting reporters from The Age and the Herald Sun.
“I’ve had too much on my plate, but when the time comes I never forget. I’m telling you I will never forget ... these c---s, I will f---ing deal with them before I go to my grave,” Lennon said during the recording.
He did not respond to requests for comment from The Age, other than sending an abusive text message.
In November, Lennon appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court, where he defended one charge of possessing a drug of dependence after 11 grams of methamphetamine and about $6000 in cash were found inside his shoulder bag in July 2020.
He admitted in court to previously using methamphetamine with a female client years earlier in 2017 or 2018, but accused the same woman of planting the drugs in his bag on the night he was arrested in South Yarra because police were unlikely to search a lawyer’s bag.
The matter will return to the Magistrates’ Court for a mention hearing on January 18.
Lennon, who has represented underworld figure Mick Gatto and jockey Danny Nikolic, is no longer a lawyer after the Victorian Legal Services Commissioner decided not to renew his practising certificate after it expired in June last year.
In May, he was accused of professional misconduct by the legal industry regulator over threatening text messages he sent to another lawyer who gave evidence during a County Court trial in 2020.
The Victorian Legal Services Commissioner informed Lennon that he faced “disciplinary prosecution” over the SMS exchange, which it alleges was an attempt to influence evidence provided by lawyer James Podaridis.
County Court judge Aileen Ryan described the exchange as “disgraceful conduct” and Podaridis made a complaint to the commissioner.
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