Tony Mokbel Released After Drug Sentence Reduction
Gangland figure Tony Mokbel will not serve additional jail time for a major drug trafficking conviction after his sentence was significantly reduced on appeal.
Original Sentence and Appeal Outcome
In 2012, Mokbel received a 30-year prison sentence with a non-parole period of 22 years following his guilty plea for leading an extensive drug syndicate across three criminal cases. Of that sentence, 20 years pertained to a single case. On Thursday, the court reduced this to 13 years, seven months, and 15 days, which was acknowledged as "time already served" before the appeal hearing.
Courtroom Moment and Reaction
Mokbel stood and bowed to the justices, then kissed his girlfriend. He left the courthouse smiling without commenting, heading to his legal team’s chambers across Lonsdale Street.
Reasoning Behind Resentencing
“He is taken to have served that entire sentence,” said Justice Stephen McLeish. The resentencing took into account the quashing of an earlier conviction in 2023 known as Plutonium, Mokbel's head injury while incarcerated, and that he was to be sentenced as a first-time drug offender.
Appeal Court Decisions
- The Court of Appeal Justices Stephen McLeish, Maree Kennedy, and Stephen Kaye unanimously overturned one major conviction, known as Quills.
- They ordered a retrial for a second conviction, Orbital.
- The third conviction, Magnum, was upheld.
The appeal decisions reflect a complex reassessment of Mokbel’s criminal record and circumstances.
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