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CANBERRA - The fallout from Melbourne's gangland wars continues, with two former close friends and allies now publicly estranged over the birth of a baby.
Roberta Williams, the former wife of crime tsar Carl Williams - serving life imprisonment for murder - wants to head-butt lawyer Zarah Garde-Wilson for failing to tell her she had given birth to a daughter.
Garde-Wilson, who has remained silent over Williams' outburst to the Herald Sun newspaper, had numbered the Williams on a client list that included key players in the Melbourne underworld and the gang wars that left more than 30 dead.
Garde-Wilson had lost her licence to practise law in Victoria after a conviction for contempt of court and the laying of a series of other charges, but has since been restored to the bar.
The latest soap-opera twist has given yet another bizarre turn in the tangled and vicious saga of fatal gangland rivalries that hit Australia's prime-time TV last year with the Underbelly series.
Roberta Williams, who spent six months in jail in 2004 for drug offences, was married to Carl, a baby-faced thug whose illegal activities and private rivalries led to the killings that rocked Melbourne between 1998 and 2006.
Already convicted for drug trafficking, Carl Williams was sentenced to life, with a minimum term of 35 years, for contracting the murders of three rivals and conspiring to kill a fourth.
Garde-Wilson had earlier lived with Lewis Caine, who spent 10 years in jail for murder and who was himself killed the day after dining with the Williams.
Garde-Wilson refused to testify at the trial of Caine's killers, Evangelos Goussis and Keith Faure, on the grounds that her evidence would put her life at risk.
She was convicted of contempt of court, and further charged with illegal possession of Caine's unregistered gun, and with four counts of giving false evidence to the Australian Crime Commission.
In the publicity surrounding the case, Garde-Wilson was also reported to have had an affair with another client, convicted cocaine trafficker Tony Mokbel, who fled Australia during his trial and was later extradited from Greece to face a new charge of killing rival drug lord Lewis Moran.
Garde-Wilson denied the claim, which has never been substantiated.
Last year, the illegal firearms and perjury charges were dropped and the Legal Services Board restored her certificate to practise as a "fit and proper person".
Garde-Wilson has since formed a new relationship with another man, and two weeks ago gave birth to a daughter - prompting a blazing row with Roberta Williams.
Williams told the Herald Sun that she was devastated by Garde-Wilson's failure to tell her of the birth.
Williams also said Garde-Wilson - a former best friend - had profited from the defence of herself and Carl, but had abandoned the family when the money ran out.
"When she realised I was poor ... she didn't want a bar of me or us," Williams told the Herald Sun.
Williams said she had offered Garde-Wilson refuge after Caine was gunned down, had stuck by her over claims that she had been Mokbel's lover, and had given the lawyer the use of her car. When Garde-Wilson had arrived to stay at the Williams' house, she had little more than milk crates and a television.
"Then, when she represented Carl and the money started coming, she started buying leather couches and living the high life."
Now, because Garde-Williams had not told her of the new baby, "I hate her livid guts".
"I made a promise to her [that] when I see her I am going to hurt her," Williams told the Herald Sun. "I tell you, I would like to give her a nice head-butt."
