“You conducted yourself as a manager,” judge Simon Whelan said. “You delegated. You gave advice. You encouraged co-operation. You sought to maintain morale. Those who did deal directly with you displayed respect for you, and loyalty to you.”
Yet despite these skills, breaking the law has taken away Tony Mokbel’s freedom.
That loss of freedom not only provides a deterring effect for other criminals, it also ensures our jails will continue to be costly to run. The bigger the crime, the more expensive it is to harness these ‘high energy’ criminals.
When his application to change his guilty plea was rejected by the court, Mokbel told forensic psychologist Wendy Northey he wanted to apologise to the community for his “greediness”.
“I have a lot of making up to do,” he said.
“Dealing in drugs was definitely wrong. It causes damage to a lot of people, creates headaches and violence in people’s lives . . . I feel saddened by it all now.”
Justice Whelan said he was unconvinced by Mokbel’s declared remorse.
“It was your career,” the judge said.
If the Justice was not convinced, then how do the rest of the Victorian people feel? After being found in Greece, Mokbel has played a huge hand in our examination of the whole system of bail.
I ask year 11 VCE Legal Studies student to examine this sentencing of Mokbel with interest. These types of cases don’t occur every week.
Peter F Hughes JUly 2012
Hughes Legal Studies VCE 
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