Tony Mokelb says Nicola Gobbo told him to flee Australia in court appeal
Crime kingpin Toby Mokbel has told a Melbourne court disgraced barrister Nicola Gobbo encouraged him to flee the country, as he prepared to face a trial two decades ago. Mokbel is currently behind bars serving a long sentence for drug trafficking, but is making a bid for freedom, due to the lawyer X scandal.
Transcript
00:00 Tony Mockbell says he always trusted his lawyer Nicola Gobbo, but behind his back, she was
00:07 double-crossing him.
00:09 Mockbell is back before the courts, trying to use that betrayal to secure an early release
00:14 from jail, as the Lawyer X scandal continues to cast a shadow over the legal system.
00:20 "I thought she was the staunchest person on earth," he told the court.
00:24 "I fully trusted her in every way."
00:27 He says it was Nicola Gobbo who told him to flee overseas because she'd been tipped off
00:33 that police were about to charge him over three gangland murders.
00:37 Mockbell went on the run in 2006 and was later famously captured in Greece,
00:42 complete with an ill-fitting wig.
00:44 The murder charges never stuck, but the drug charges did, landing Mockbell a 30-year jail
00:50 sentence, which was later reduced after the Lawyer X scandal was exposed.
00:55 Mockbell's new lawyers are fighting for his drug trafficking and importation convictions
01:00 to be overturned.
01:01 Like many underworld figures, Mockbell had no idea his lawyer was secretly feeding police
01:07 information in a gross betrayal of client legal privilege.
01:11 You would have never picked her to be on the other side of the fence.
01:15 Mockbell's testimony is part of 12 weeks of hearings, which could include evidence from
01:20 former judges and prosecutors. To avoid any potential conflicts of interest,
01:25 a Supreme Court judge from New South Wales has been brought in to oversee the case.
01:30 There's still a long way to go in the legal process.
01:34 Rulings that come out of these hearings will shape how the case plays out when it eventually
01:39 reaches Victoria's highest court, the Court of Appeal.
01:42 Mockbell's evidence continues tomorrow.
01:45 [BLANK_AUDIO]