Face of Nation : A man found guilty of acting as the getaway driver for an infamous Melbourne gangland murder could walk free from jail following the ‘Lawyer X’ scandal.
Faruk Orman was jailed for 20 years in 2009 after the underworld slaying of career criminal Victor Peirce at the hands of hitman Andrew “Benji” Veniamin.
Orman was found to have helped plan the execution and drove the getaway car.
The now-37-year-old has remained behind bars for 12 years, including pre-sentence detention, despite professing his innocence throughout and having previously fought all the way to the High Court.
But that could all change following revelations gangland lawyer Nicola Gobbo – also known as Lawyer X – was informing to police about the figures she represented, including Orman.
On Wednesday, Attorney-General Jill Hennessy announced she would refer Orman’s matter to the Court of Appeal, which will decide if his case involved a miscarriage of justice.
Ms Hennessy said it was not necessary to wait until the final report by an ongoing royal commission into the management of police informers, given the volume of material already available about Ms Gobbo’s conduct in relation to Orman.
Peirce was a career criminal originally charged but later acquitted over the 1988 murders of police officers Steven Tynan and Damian Eyre at South Yarra.
A few years later, he was executed by Veniamin, who himself was killed during Melbourne’s ongoing gangland war.
Ms Hennessy said she received a petition for mercy on Orman’s behalf in February.
His lawyers provided detailed submissions and evidence, prompting her to seek independent legal advice.
“Based on the material provided by Mr Orman’s lawyers, I am satisfied there is credible evidence there may have been a miscarriage of justice in Mr Orman’s case arising from Nicola Gobbo’s conduct and use as a human source by Victoria Police,” Ms Hennessy said on Wednesday.
Orman’s lawyer Ruth Parker said her client was trying not to cry when he heard the news.
“Twelve years is a long time. He has been away from his family and his friends for the entirety of that time – part of that time under the harshest prison conditions in Victoria,” she told ABC TV.
“I don’t think that we can probably put into words exactly what he is feeling but he will be overwhelmed.”
The court confirmed on Wednesday afternoon it had received the attorney-generals’s referral.
The royal commission hearings continue almost entirely behind closed doors.
Media personnel have been permitted to attend but are required to follow strict reporting rules.
During a brief period of open hearings, retired Victoria Police officer Andrew Paul Allen, who headed the early days of a task force into Melbourne’s underworld killings, said he wasn’t aware Ms Gobbo had been informing to police about her clients.
“I would have had an immediate cessation of any of these activities and I would have called an urgent review of anything that involved Ms Gobbo, had matters come to my attention,” he told the commission.
He agreed he may have elevated the issue further up the Victoria Police ranks.
“I would have taken into account all the facts and circumstances and evaluated it from there.”
Orman is one of a number of underworld figures wanting to overturn their convictions following the Lawyer X scandal.
