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PHOTO CAPTION: "Infamous child killer Robert Farquharson was imprisoned for life for murdering his three sons almost two decades ago. Now he’s preparing a fresh bid for freedom."
GIST: "An infamous child killer, imprisoned for life for murdering his three sons, is preparing a fresh court appeal making use of new laws introduced in Victoria four years ago.
Robert Farquharson was behind the wheel of a car on the night of Father's Day in 2005 when he crashed into a 7-metre-deep dam, near Winchelsea, south-west of Melbourne.
His three sons – Jai, 10, Tyler, seven and Bailey, two – drowned in the car. Farquharson swam free of the wreck and was the sole survivor.
Separate juries in 2007 and 2010 found Farquharson guilty of murdering his children, in what Supreme Court judge Lex Lasry described as "a terrifying death".
The boys' mother Cindy Gambino-Moules died in 2022. Her family declined an interview with 7.30 but are not supportive of the new appeal.
Despite the guilty jury verdicts and two unsuccessful appeals, Farquharson's supporters believe he was wrongly convicted.
Those supporters include a specialist respiratory doctor who testified at Farquharson's previous trials.
"It's always somewhat distressing when you believe someone has had a miscarriage of justice, and that I was somehow involved in that process," Dr Chris Steinfort told 7.30.
"I think he's an innocent man."
Dr Steinfort assessed Farquharson before his first trial and said he remained convinced the fatal crash was an accident, caused by a cough-induced fainting condition known as cough syncope – a diagnosis the juries rejected.
Dr Chris Steinfort is a respiratory physician and treated Robert Farquharson before his first trial.(ABC News: Daniel Fermer)
"I said to him, 'What happened?' And he basically said, 'Well, I really don't know what happened'," Dr Steinfort recalled.
"That made me think there may well be something in this as the cause of the accident, and I wrote all that down in my medical record."Different case had successful appeal
Farquharson had been sick in the lead-up to the Father's Day crash, when he decided to take his sons for a drive to get KFC for dinner in nearby Geelong.
The crash happened as he was returning them to Winchelsea where they lived with their mother. The couple had separated the year before.
After testifying in court about diagnosing Farquharson with cough syncope, Dr Steinfort said he had more patients come forward having passed out while coughing.
"At the time you're unconscious, you are totally unable to function," Dr Steinfort said of the condition.
"Driving your car, you wouldn't be able to control the steering or the accelerator or any part of that; you'd be unconscious."
The prosecution argued Farquharson invented the coughing fit and subsequent fainting episode.
The Crown case relied on medical expert Dr Thomas Naughton who testified that Farquharson was unlikely to have been suffering from cough syncope.
He described the condition as “extremely uncommon” and in Farquharson’s case, “medically, extremely unlikely”.
Among the people Dr Steinfort had since encountered or diagnosed with the condition was Geoffrey Ferguson, a truck driver jailed over a fatal crash in which another driver died.
"He happened to be talking on a hands-free mobile phone to his brother, and then suddenly he started to cough very violently," Dr Steinfort said.
"His brother described a pause of around four or five seconds with no sound whatsoever, then there was a deep breath in and expletive, and then a crash."
Mr Ferguson — who was also sick at the time of his crash — was later released upon appeal, with Victoria's Court of Appeal accepting he may have been unconscious at the time.
"There was an extra layer of verification in Mr Ferguson's case, in that he was talking hands-free to his brother and his brother described what had happened.
"Obviously that didn't happen in Mr Farquharson's case."
Nonetheless, Farquharson's supporters hope a further appeal could result in him also being freed from prison.
Farquharson's ex-wife initially believed her former husband was innocent but later changed her mind.
She died two years ago, believing Farquharson had deliberately killed their children in an act of family violence.
Earlier this year, Farquharson was the first person in Victoria to have the rights to control the graves of his children stripped from him.
'A tragic accident'
Astrophysicist Chris Brook, who has studied law and science, published a book detailing what he considers are scientific failings in the criminal case against Farquharson.
"I think the whole of the evidence, when you look at it, I think it points to a tragic accident," Dr Brook said.
During his trial, Farquharson's defence team argued that after regaining consciousness he opened the door, not realising the car was in deep water, intending to then go around to get the kids out.
The jury rejected that argument, accepting the prosecution's case that Farquharson knowingly steered the car into the water.
"At an early stage after the vehicle entered the water [Farquharson] got out of the vehicle through the driver's side door," Justice Lasry said in his 2010 sentencing remarks.
"The jury's verdict makes it plain that they are satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that when you left the vehicle you did so with the knowledge and intention that your three children would be drowned and they were."
Dr Brook said research done since the court cases showed the act of opening the car door doomed the children inside.
"It just sank, like a bomb," he said.
"We've seen scientific experiments showing what happens when you open a car door.
"Your car sinks very fast, and whoever is in there is trapped."
While working on his book Road to Damnation, Dr Brook spoke to Farquharson in prison, describing him as institutionalised, but "pretty normal".
"He hasn't stopped fighting to prove his innocence," Dr Brook said.
Farquharson's last attempt to appeal his sentence failed in the High Court, in 2013.
Until four years ago, the only remaining avenue to freedom for Farquharson was a plea for mercy to Victoria's attorney-general.
There has to be a high bar
New laws introduced in 2019 have opened a new pathway, but only apply if there is fresh and compelling evidence that shows a substantial miscarriage of justice has occurred.
Criminal barrister, Catherine Boston SC, said that set a very high bar for an appeal to even be considered.
"Any type of evidence could give rise to a successful second or subsequent appeal, for example, new expert evidence or a new eyewitness, or a witness recanting something, which they've said," she said.
Ms Boston said two of the three cases successfully appealed using the new laws were implicated in Victoria's Lawyer X scandal.
"The Court of Appeal has to be satisfied that a substantial miscarriage of justice has occurred and that's not something which is defined in any particular way," she said.
"There are many different ways in which a substantial miscarriage of justice can be established."
Dr Brook believed that new research into how cars sink could meet that bar.
The appeal is expected to be lodged later this year.
After all these years, Dr Steinfort said he felt a level of responsibility for what he considered a miscarriage of justice.
"There's a job to be done. To have him freed from prison and pardoned.""
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-02/robert-farquharson-to-launch-fresh-appeal-fathers-day-crash/103785424
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater's attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, "Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it's the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.
https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-12348801
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SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
---------------------------------------------------------------
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
—————————————————————————————————
FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
————————————————————————————
YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater's attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, "Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it's the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.
https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-12348801
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