Alan Bond – Galbally Rolfe (now trading as Galbally Parker) acted for Alan Bond in criminal proceedings arising out of the collapse of his corporate empire in the early 1990s. Bond faced serious criminal charges in Western Australia relating to fraud and stealing corporate funds (including funds from Bell Resources). The proceedings were among the most high-profile corporate crime cases in Australia at the time. Galbally Rolfe represented Bond during parts of these criminal proceedings, providing defence representation in what was an extremely complex and heavily scrutinised white-collar prosecution. The matter involved large volumes of financial evidence, corporate records, and expert accounting analysis. The case became one of Australia’s landmark corporate fraud prosecutions and cemented Galbally Rolfe’s reputation for acting in major, high-stakes criminal litigation — including high-profile white-collar matters alongside its broader criminal defence practice.

Bruno Grollo – In the mid-1990s, Bruno Grollo and two co-accused — John William Flanagan and Robert Charles Howard — faced serious criminal charges in Victoria alleging conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and bribery. These charges arose in the context of fears the taxation office was investigating alleged failure to declare tens of millions of dollars in income related to the construction of the Rialto Towers.The case became one of the longest trials in Victorian history (about 13 months). However, in *June 1997 a jury found all defendants not guilty, and the criminal prosecution was ultimately unsuccessful. Galbally Rolfe represented Grollo throughout these proceedings.

Beyond the conspiracy/justice case, the Grollo family faced a prolonged legal battle with authorities over alleged tax fraud, including allegations of concealing profits and defrauding the Commonwealth of large sums (reported around A$25 million in some accounts). This long fight (beginning in the late 1980s and extending into the late 1990s/2000) ended without convictions, with cases collapsing or defendants being acquitted.

Garry Ablett Snr – a famous AFL footballer, Ablett was a high profile Melbourne sporting identity who had several interactions with the criminal justice system. In 1990, Ablett was placed on a good behaviour bond after he pleaded guilty to assaulting a man he found sitting in a car with his then-estranged wife. In 2000, a 19 year old woman, Alisha Horan, died of a drug overdose in Ablett’s hotel room. This incident garnered significant public attention. Ablett later pleaded guilty to drug offences, was convicted and fined $1500.00. Throughout that period, Galbally Rolfe represented Ablett in relation to each of his matters, whilst also managing the public fallout from the high profile allegations.

Dennis Ryan – Dennis Ryan was an Australian man who was allegedly linked to organised crime networks in Victoria during the 2000s. Ryan was associated with members of Melbourne’s criminal underworld during a period marked by gangland violence and organised crime investigations. His name arose in the context of serious criminal activity involving drug trafficking and violent offending. Ryan faced charges relating primarily to drug trafficking and serious organised crime activity. The case attracted media attention because of its connections to broader underworld investigations in Victoria. Ryan was convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment for his role in drug-related offending. His case forms part of the wider history of organised crime prosecutions in Victoria during the post-gangland war era. While Ryan’s own case did not become one of the headline convictions overturned due to Lawyer X (unlike Faruk Orman or Zlate Cvetanovski – both clients of Galbally Rolfe), his criminal proceedings arose in the same organised crime environment in which Victoria Police relied heavily on informants, Nicola Gobbo was providing intelligence against her own clients, and multiple prosecutions were later scrutinised for potential miscarriages of justice.

Dominic Gatto – who was acquitted on the basis of self-defence after killing Andrew Veniamin. n 2004, Melbourne underworld figure Mick Gatto shot and killed Andrew “Benji” Veniamin at a restaurant in Carlton, during the period of the Melbourne gangland war. Gatto was charged with murder. The Crown alleged that Gatto deliberately shot Veniamin during a meeting and that the killing was not justified and constituted murder. The case attracted enormous media attention because both men were prominent figures in Melbourne’s organised crime scene. Gatto’s legal team, spearheaded by Galbally Rolfe, argued self-defence. They contended that Veniamin had a reputation for extreme violence, he had made threats against Gatto and that, during the meeting, Gatto believed that he was about to be shot. The defence case was that, Gatto fired in order to protect himself. The defence relied heavily on evidence of Veniamin’s violent history, forensic and witness testimony as well as evidence from Gatto, himself, that he believed his life was in danger.

In 2005, a Supreme Court jury in Victoria found Gatto not guilty of murder, accepting that the prosecution had not disproven self-defence beyond reasonable doubt. The verdict was one of the most high-profile outcomes of the Melbourne gangland war era. It demonstrated how self-defence can succeed even in cases involving admitted lethal force. The trial became a landmark moment in Victoria’s organised crime history.

Moustapha Dib – Moustapha Dib was a well known client who had a number of matters in New South Wales throughout the 1990’s through to 2021. He was publicly linked to a group called the Telopea Street Boys, who were a notorious youth gang allegedly operating around Punchbowl and Bankston in South West Sydney through the late 1990s – early 2000’s. On 17 October 1998, 14-year-old Edward Lee was stabbed to death on Telopea Street during a gang altercation involving members of the Telopea Street Boys. It was alleged that Moustapha Dib stabbed Lee during the brawl. Dib, who was also a child at the time, was charged with murder in relation to Lee’s death. He eventually pleaded guilty to manslaughter (acknowledging provocation or a lesser intent) rather than murder.

In 2003, he was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for the manslaughter of Edward Lee. Galbally Rolfe represented Dib when he was refused parole by the NSW Parole Board. The decision was appealed to the Supreme Court, leading to the successful decision. He was thereafter granted parole and completed his parole without incident.

However, prior to this occurring (and whilst Dib was on remand for the killing of Edward Lee, he was charged with another murder, being the shooting of Anita Vrzina in November 2000. It was alleged that Dib fired into a car in Punchbowl, killing a woman and wounding her partner. The partner was believed to have been a potential witness against him in the Lee case. Dib was prosecuted twice for the murder, with both trials being aborted.

After Dib served his sentence and parole period for the manslaughter of Edward Lee, he was charged on direct indictment with the murder of Vrzina and attempted murder of her partner. Unfortunately, Dib was convicted of the murder in 2012. However, after our firm launched appeal proceedings, his convictions were unanimously quashed by the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal in 2016. The judges found insufficient evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Dib was the gunman in the 2000 shooting, given conflicting and unreliable identification evidence from the partner. Dib was released that same day and Ruth Parker of our office was present to walk him out of prison.

Approximately 18 months later, Dib was arrested in the United Arab Emirates in relation to a conspiracy to import 800 kilograms of MDMA from the Netherlands into Australia. Alongside his high profile co-accused, he was prosecuted for one of the biggest attempted drug importations in Australian history. Our office appeared for him all the way through to sentence. Thereafter, he was represented by Sydney based lawyers due to the COVID-19 pandemic making it impossible for members of our office to travel between Sydney and Melbourne to conduct the appeal. His sentence was reduced.

Mohammed “LC” Hamzy – Another high profile and somewhat colourful former Sydney-based client of our firm is Mohammed Hamzy. Also known as “LC” (or “Little Crazy”), he was alleged to be a prominent member and leader of the Brothers for Life street gang, which was alleged to operate as a Sydney-based organised crime group formed in the mid-2000s by his cousin, Bassam Hamzy. In 2012, Mohammed was charged with the murder of Yehya Amoud, who was gunned down outside Mohammed’s mother’s home in Greenacre, Sydney. Galbally Rolfe acted for Mohammed in his trial and Ruth Parker relocated to Sydney to conduct the matter. In 2016, a NSW Supreme Court jury acquitted Hamzy of murder but convicted him of manslaughter in relation to Amoud’s death. He was also found guilty of wounding the driver with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. At trial Hamzy argued he acted in self-defence, claiming the driver was armed; the jury accepted some elements of his defence in relation to the murder count but still held him criminally responsible for Amoud’s death and related violence. Hamzy was sentenced in October 2016 to 11 years and 6 months’ imprisonment with a non-parole period (minimum time before parole eligibility). He has since been released and is one of the only parolee who had his relocation overseas supported by NSW Police.

Phillip Bracken – In November 2012, Phillip Paul Bracken, then aged 45 and living in West Footscray, shot his de facto partner, Helen Curtis (58), in the street in West Footscray, Melbourne. The incident occurred in broad daylight and was captured on nearby CCTV footage. Police charged Bracken with murder over Ms Curtis’s death. He was remanded in custody and later appeared in the Victorian Supreme Court. Galbally Rolfe was retained to act the same day as the shooting and immediately commenced gathering evidence in support of the argument that Phillip had been the victim of intimate partner violence and killed Curtis in self-defence At trial in early 2014, Bracken pleaded not guilty to murder and denied alternative charges of defensive homicide and manslaughter. His defence centred on family violence self-defence. He argued that Curtis had been verbally and physically abusive toward him over a long period. On the day of the shooting, she had a firearm in her car and threatened to kill him or his father, after pursuing his elderly father on foot whilst driving her utility vehicle, including by mounting the footpath and driving directly toward him.

Bracken genuinely believed he and his father were in danger, and his use of force was necessary. Expert evidence on domestic violence and its psychological effects was admitted to give context to Bracken’s state of mind — including how prolonged abuse can affect a person’s perceptions and responses.

In February 2014, a Supreme Court jury found Bracken not guilty of murder, and also acquitted him on the alternative charges of defensive homicide and manslaughter. The jury accepted that he acted in self-defence. After the acquittal, Bracken was released on bail. He still faced a separate charge for possessing an unregistered firearm, which his lawyers then sought to have discontinued, which it was.

DPP v Bracken became a well-known case in Victoria because it involved expert evidence on domestic and family violence in a self-defence claim, and raised questions about how long-term abuse should be weighed in assessing an accused’s perception of threat. The case also illustrates how self-defence law in Victoria (including then-existing provisions like defensive homicide) could be used in complex intimate partner violence contexts.

Dennis Tanner –  in November 1984, Jennifer Tanner (27) was shot dead at her home in Bonnie Doon, in north-eastern Victoria. The firearm used was a revolver, and she died from two gunshot wounds to the head. A coronial inquest in 1998 concluded that Denis Tanner, who was at the time a detective with Victoria Police and the victim’s brother-in-law, was the person who shot Jennifer Tanner. Despite this finding, he was never criminally charged with the killing. Unfortunately, subsequent attempts to reopen the case were unsuccessful and the killing remains an unsolved murder.

Faruk Orman – was convicted in 2009 of being the getaway driver in the 2002 gangland murder of Melbourne underworld figure Victor “Vic” Peirce. Peirce was shot dead by hitman Andrew “Benji” Veniamin in Port Melbourne. Orman was found guilty by a Victorian Supreme Court jury and sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment, with a minimum non-parole period of 14  He appealed his conviction all the way to the High Court of Australia and failed.

After the 2018 identifying Nicola Gobbo (‘Lawyer X’) as a human source for Victoria Police, Faruk was identified as one of her former clients whose conviction was compromised by the corruption affected between Gobbo and Victoria Police.  However, notwithstanding this significant and compelling fresh evidence, Faruk was unable to launch a second and subsequent appeal because he had already exhausted his appeal options. The only option available to Faruk was a petition for mercy, a political decision that could only be made by the Attorney-General of Victoria, the Honourable Jill Hennessy.

After significant direct and public pressure on the Attorney-General of Victoria, she made the groundbreaking decision to directly refer Faruk’s matter for a petition for mercy. To be referred for a petition for mercy is extraordinarily rare. We then became the first firm to have a conviction overturned as a result of the injustice affected by the corruption committed by Gobbo and Victoria Police. Faruk was released the same day. This would not have been possible without the work of Ruth, who represented Faruk for over ten years, and our team of excellent professionals.

Since Faruk’s release, the law has changed to allow for all people to have ‘second chance appeals’ where fresh evidence arises that is exceptional in nature. No citizen of Victoria will have to rely on the decision of a politician in order to access justice. Orman has publicly maintained his innocence, saying he never committed the crime. He has pursued legal action against Victoria Police and the State of Victoria, alleging false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, and breaches of duty because of the tainted conduct that led to his conviction.

Faruk’s case also brought unprecedented media attention to Galbally Rolfe and Ruth Parker, it’s new Principal and Director. As a result, Ruth became a regular fixture in media reporting and has appeared on the 7:30 Report, A Current Affair, Sky News, 60 Minutes, the Today Show and Sunrise, as well as being interviewed by multiple media outlets including The Age, the Herald Su, the Australian as well as independent publications. She is now the resident expert criminal lawyer, appearing regularly on Sunrise and the Today Show to discuss the most high profile criminal cases across Australia, reinforcing her reputation as one of the most trusted criminal law experts in Australia.

Zlate Cvetanovski –was an alleged Melbourne underworld figure associated with Antonios Mokbel in the 2000s. He was convicted at trial of commercial drug trafficking offences — including manufacturing and supplying methamphetamine — based largely on the evidence of a key witness known as Mr Cooper. Following that conviction in 2008–2011, he was sentenced to a lengthy prison term and served around 11 years behind bars. Cvetanovski’s conviction was later challenged because it was tainted by the Lawyer X scandal involving Nicola Gobbo: Gobbo acted as a defence lawyer for Cooper while also being a registered police informer — a fact that was not disclosed to those she represented.

In Cvetanovski’s case, Gobbo encouraged Cooper to cooperate with police and give evidence against Cvetanovski.During this period she also represented Cvetanovski or was involved in his legal matters before his arrest and trial, creating a serious conflict of interest. In addition, during the appeal proceedings, Galbally Parker Lawyers uncovered that police had been paying money into Cooper’s prison accounts to provide support whilst he was acting as a witness in circumstances where the police made the payments in the name of Cooper’s sister. These were facts that the jury was never told, which would have affected the credibility of Cooper and the integrity of the prosecution. Because the jury could not properly assess the credibility and motivations of the witness without knowing this, lawyers argued there had been a substantial miscarriage of justice in Cvetanovski’s trial.

In 2020, Cvetanovski’s appeal was heard by the Victorian Court of Appeal.

The Director of Public Prosecutions conceded that the original trial had been fundamentally unfair due to the undisclosed conduct involving Gobbo and the witness. The Court agreed, concluding there had been a substantial miscarriage of justice, and quashed Cvetanovski’s convictions. The Court also ruled that it would be unjust to order a new trial, considering the tainted nature of the evidence and the passage of time. As a result, Cvetanovski was acquitted and released.

Cvetanovski has since initiated civil proceedings against the State of Victoria and Victoria Police, seeking damages for wrongful imprisonment and the harms caused by the flawed prosecution. His case was one of the first major drug trafficking convictions overturned as part of the wider fallout from the Lawyer X scandal, following the earlier quashing of Faruk Orman’s conviction.

These cases are examples of the ground-breaking and law changing cases that we have been involved in across our 50 year history. However, we regularly publish case studies reporting on the excellent outcomes that we achieve for clients on a daily basis. You can also access our Media page which contains the most recent media appearances by Ruth and our team.