Robert Farquharson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert Farquharson
Robert Farquharson
Born	1969 Australia
Penalty	Life imprisonment
Spouse	Cindy Gambino (divorced)
Children	0 (formerly 3)

Robert Donald William Farquharson (born 1969) is an Australian man, convicted of murdering his sons on Father's Day in 2005 by driving them into a farm dam.^[1]

At approximately 7pm, on September 4, 2005, while returning his children to their mother after a Father's Day access visit, Farquharson's white 1989 VN Commodore vehicle veered across the Princes Highway between Winchelsea and Geelong before smashing through a fence and coming to rest in a farm dam where it submerged, trapping his three children inside and drowning them.

Farquharson managed to escape the sinking vehicle and alerted another driver who drove Farquharson to nearby Winchelsea ^[2]. His three children, Jai, 10, Tyler, 7, and Bailey, 2, were unable to free themselves from the sinking vehicle and were killed at the scene. Their bodies were recovered by police divers at approximately 2am the following morning, still inside the vehicle and unrestrained by seatbelts. Farquharson maintains his innocence and is planning to appeal his sentence ^[3].

Contents 1 Early life 2 Arrest 3 Trial 3.1 Prosecution 3.2 Defence 3.3 Verdict 4 Media offers 5 References

[edit] Early life

Farquharson met his future wife, Cindy Gambino in February, 1990. In 1996, Farquharson took a redundancy package from his employer and purchased a lawn mowing franchise business servicing his local area, a venture which lost him AUD$40,000^[4].

He married Gambino in 2000 ^[4] and had three children together by 2002. The pair separated amicably in 2004 ^[5]. Farquharson suffered bouts of depression and sought the assistance of a psychologist and later a psychiatrist in order to deal with the separation from his wife. He was prescribed with the antidepressants Zoloft and later Avanza ^[4].

[edit] Arrest

Police prepared murder charges against Farquharson and attended to his Winchelsea home on December 14, 2005. Farquharson was not at home at the time however presented himself at the Geelong police station in the presence of his lawyer where he was arrested and charged with three counts of murder. Farquharson requested and undertook a lie detector test, the results of which are inadmissable in a court ^[6] He later appeared in the Geelong Magistrates Court and was remanded in custody and ordered to appear before the court on April 7, 2006. ^[2].

Farquharson's ex-wife, Cindy Gambino, told the court she does not believe Farquharson intended to kill their children deliberately, saying "I believe with all my heart that this was just an accident and that he would not have hurt a hair on their heads. I don't believe this is murder ^[7].

Police alleged Farquharson was in control of the vehicle in the moments before it crashed into the dam, and that he earlier told friend, Greg King he had intended to kill his children to get back at his wife ^[8]. He was later granted bail and released from custody to appear at his trial scheduled to begin in August 2007.

[edit] Trial

Farquharson's trial for the murder of his three former sons commenced in the Supreme Court of Victoria before Justice Philip Cummins, on August 21, 2007 ^[9]. A total of 49 witnesses appeared during the six week trial ^[10].

[edit] Prosecution

Sargeant Glen Urquhart gave evidence that the steering wheel of Farquharson's vehicle would require a 220 degree turn to veer as it did on the highway to leave the road. There was no evidence of braking before the car entered the dam ^[11]. The vehicle's headlights, heater and ignition system were all in the off position ^[4].

The body of the oldest child, Jai was found protruding half way out of the vehicle's front door, and the remaining two children were discovered in the back seat.

Police video reenactments of the crime scene played before the court showed the car veering left, not right towards the dam, at the exact position on the highway the accident occurred.

Greg King, a bus driver, testified that he recalled a conversation with Farquharson two months prior to the accident outside a Fish and Chip shop where Farquharson was speaking of seeking revenge on his ex-wife and to "take away the things that mean the most to her", meaning the children. King recalled Farquharson complaining how his wife had taken the newer car and he was left to drive an older model.

Witness Shane Atkinson, who discovered Farquharson on the side of the road said Farquharson twice refused to call the 000 emergency number, preferring instead to travel to Winchelsea to tell his wife of his children's fate ^[11].

Witness, Associate Professor Matthew Naughton told the jury it was highly unlikely Farquharson had suffered a coughing fit in the moments before the accident ^[12]. He further testified that coughing to the point of blacking out is an extremely rare condition, known as cough syncope, and that Farquharson was unlikely to have suffered such an attack while driving in the warmth of his vehicle ^[13].

[edit] Defence

Farquharson relied upon the defence of losing consciousness due to a coughing fit, and told police he woke up in the dam. The car begun to submerge when his oldest son Jai attempted to free himself by opening the passenger door ^[14].

Cam Everett, the owner of the property where the dam was located told the court a total of seven vehicles had crashed through his farm fence in eight years. No vehicles other than Farquharson's had ended up in the dam in that time ^[4].

Former police Superintendent David Axup contradicted what was posed by the prosecution about the path and steering inputs of the car as it left the road, believing it had likely traveled on a 53 degree arc which could be explained by the lean of the road to the right towards the damn, and the fact the car had a bad wheel alingment, meaning it would move uncontrolled to the right. Galbally bemused.

Farquharson's doctor, Dr Chris Steinfort also concluded that it was 'highly likely' Mr Farquharson suffered from cough syncope on the night. Steinfort has seen cases of cough syncope and believed the symptoms suffered by Farquharson were 'classic' of a cough syncope ^[15].

[edit] Verdict

The day before the verdict came in, Farquharson arranged for flowers, three red tulips, to be laid at the gravesite of his children. Attached was a card reading 'Dear Jai, Thinking of you on your birthday. Love you, Dad'. Jai was to turn 13 the same day had he been still alive ^[16].

After three days of deliberations, Farquharson was found guilty by the Supreme Court jury on 5 October, 2007.^[1] Gambino broke down in court when the verdict was announced, and Gambino's mother collapsed and was taken to hospital by ambulance. ^[17] Justice Cummins allowed a recess of fifteen minutes for the court to compose itself before proceedings resumed after the verdict was delivered ^[18].

On November 16, 2007, Farquharson was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. Farquharson has announced he intends to appeal his convictions. ^[3].

With growing dismay in the community surrounding both bias in the reporting of the case and a general disagreement towards the verdict handed down there is growing support for Farquharson. Support is even coming in the form of Websites aiming to show both sides of the evidence from the trial.

[edit] Media offers

Harpo Productions, the company of American talk show host Oprah Winfrey is reported to have contacted Gambino with an offer of $1million for Gambino to appear on her show and tell her story ^[5]. Gambino has told her story to Australian women's magazine, Woman's Day, saying she does not believe her ex-husband killed their children ^[19].

[edit] References