Gangland barrister Nicola Gobbo admits she was an idiot for becoming a police informer while also representing notorious gangland figures.
Gobbo made the comments during her evidence to the Victorian Supreme Court, as she sues the State of Victoria for damages.
She claims police acted negligently after they “groomed” her to become a human source in late 2005.
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The state is fighting all the claims in a judge-alone civil trial, which will enter its seventh day today.
During her evidence on Monday, Gobbo conceded she should not have become a police informer while also representing clients like Tony Mokbel.
“I was an idiot,” she told the court.
“I shouldn’t have done it but (police) offered me what I thought was a solution, even if it didn’t turn out to be.
“It was like I was given a lifeline – do this, help us and we’ll fix the problem.”
Gobbo said it appeared as though her problems had dissipated and her health improved in the years between 2010 and 2013.
But her life unravelled once again after she was unmasked as Lawyer X and Informer 3838, Gobbo said.
“Obviously now there is no end in sight to put this behind me,” she told the court.
Gobbo has spent the subsequent years moving between different secret locations with her children.
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The 51-year-old said she was hopeful she could eventually have a life filled with purpose and meaning.
“I would like to think at some point the events of the past can be finished and I can actually move to a future,” she said.
Gobbo’s image is being hidden from public view in the trial, with only Justice Melinda Richards and lawyers able to see her as she gives evidence.
Gobbo will be cross-examined by the state’s barrister Bernard Quinn KC today.
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