Drug kingpin Tony Mokbel gets a reduced sentence because he was abused behind bars
- Sustained injuries from an assault led to a reduced sentence
- In 2012, he was sentenced to 26 years behind bars
- Mokbel pleads guilty to three charges of drug trafficking
Melbourne drug kingpin Tony Mokbel will spend less time behind bars, partly due to injuries sustained in a prison attack.
Mokbel submitted a bid for a new conviction in Victoria’s Court of Appeal after one of his previous drug convictions was overturned over the Advocate X scandal.
Judge Karin Emerton on Tuesday amended Mokbel’s 30-year prison sentence in 2012 and instead sentenced him to 26 years.
A 20-year non-parole period was shortened from an initial 22 years.
Sustained injuries from a serious prison assault were part of why Mokbel’s sentence was reduced, Judge Emerton said
Melbourne drug kingpin Tony Mokbel will spend less time behind bars, partly due to injuries he sustained in a prison attack
Sustained injuries from a serious prison beating were part of the reason why Mokbel’s sentence was reduced
The 57-year-old was in a coma for 24 days after two 21-year-old inmates attacked him in Barwon in 2019.
Mokbel is still suffering the effects of a traumatic brain injury from the attack, his lawyer Julie Condon KC told the court last month.
He also suffered two heart attacks in March and April last year and then underwent stent surgery.
Mokbel was rushed to hospital last week, but appeared in court via video link on Tuesday.
The 57-year-old, dressed in a dark suit and tie, remained silent as Judge Emerton delivered her verdict.
Mokbel was found guilty and sentenced to 30 years in prison in July 2012 after pleading guilty to three counts of drug trafficking.
Six years earlier, he had been sentenced to 12 years in prison for importing a commercial quantity of cocaine from Mexico.
Mokbel did not appear in court for that sentence, but hid in rural Victoria for eight months before fleeing to Greece from Western Australia on a yacht.
Justice Karin Emerton on Tuesday amended the original 30-year prison sentence imposed on Mokbel in 2012 and he was instead sentenced to 26 years
The drug lord hid in rural Victoria for eight months before fleeing to Athens, Greece (pictured) in a hunt from Western Australia
He was finally arrested in June 2007 in a café in Athens and extradited back to Melbourne almost a year later.
Mokbel tried to appeal against his conviction, arguing that it was illegal to extradite him to Australia before his appeal to the European Court of Human Rights was completed.
Those bids were unsuccessful, but his 2006 conviction was eventually overturned by the appeals court in December 2020 after his former lawyer Nicola Gobbo was revealed to be a police informer.
Mokbel was arrested in a cafe in Athens in June 2007 and extradited back to Melbourne almost a year later
In December 2020 after his former lawyer Nicola Gobbo (pictured) was revealed to be a police informant