Nicola Gobbo Denies Knowledge of Tony Mokbel’s Escape Plan During Drug Trial

Nicola Gobbo, the former gangland barrister-turned-informer known as Lawyer X, told the Victorian Supreme Court that she had no knowledge of drug kingpin Tony Mokbel’s plan to flee in the midst of his 2006 drug importation trial.

Gobbo, who was one of Mokbel’s lawyers at the time and also working as a police informer, claimed Mokbel appeared normal when he left court on a Friday in March 2006.

Mokbel, who was on bail and expected to return the following Monday, instead absconded to Greece, successfully evading arrest for more than a year. In February, during his own Supreme Court hearing, Mokbel alleged that Gobbo had encouraged him to flee due to impending murder charges, though Gobbo was not asked directly about this claim in her current testimony. She insisted, “I wasn’t aware he was intending to skip bail.”

Gobbo, now 51, is suing the State of Victoria for damages, alleging that police acted negligently after “grooming” her to become an informer in late 2005. The state is disputing her claims in the ongoing judge-alone civil trial.

During her testimony, Gobbo said she wanted to distance herself from Mokbel and his criminal associates, believing that cooperating with the police was the only way out. “It was for [police] to take steps to extract me from that situation or extract the people so I wouldn’t have to deal with them,” she explained.

Gobbo expressed regret over how compliant she had been with her police handlers, reflecting, “If they said jump, I didn’t ask how high – I just did it. I look back now and think what an idiot.” She also testified that her handlers knew she was experiencing increasing paranoia, stress, and physical health problems while working as an informer.

Her evidence before Justice Melinda Richards is set to continue.

(Source: Daily Mail UK)