Robert Farquharson
The embodiment of evil?
Or victim of one of Australia's worst injustices?
The Crime
On Father’s Day of 2005, Robert Farquharson was driving his three sons Jai, Tyler and Bailey aged 10, 7 and 2 years old, to their mothers house. His car ran off the road and into a dam. Whilst Farquharson escaped, the three boys went down with the car and drowned. "Murder", they yelled! "How could anyone be that evil?", they asked.
Farquharson was tried and convicted of murdering his three sons, but won his appeal. He was again tried in a subsequent second trail, and again convicted. He has spent the last ten years in protective custody of maximum security prison, labelled 'unsuitable for mixing' with the unforgiving general prison population. The case is engrained in the Australian psychy and Robert has been placed along side 'the worst of the worst' of Australian criminals.
Road to Damnation takes a fresh look at the largely circumstantial evidence used to convict Robert. Through the eyes of a scientist, flaws are systematically uncovered, not only flaws in the case against Robert Farquason, but in the criminal justice system that convicted him.
Could Robert Farquharson actually be innocent?
After all that has been said about him?
All that has been done to him?
Is Robert Farquharson the embodiment of evil?
Or the victim of one of Australia’s worst Miscarriages of Justice?
The Evidence
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Sinking Cars: What would you do if your car went into a lake? Yes, there is a correct answer and it was determined by doing scientific experiments.
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Reconstructing the Path of the Car: Was this evidence actually science?
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Medical Evidence: Did Robert Farquharson have cough syncope, which results in blacking out after coughing?
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The Witnesses: Memory evidence needs to be treated like all other crime scene evidence... It needs to be preserved... using up to date scientific knowledge on how memory works. Witness evidence in this case is examined through this prism.
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Behaviour: How should one act when they have lost their three son's in a tragic accident? Is there a "normal" behaviour in such circumstances?
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Anger at his ex-wife?: Was Farquharson so angry at his ex-wife (that supported him through the trial) that he would kill his three sons, who he dearly loved?
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Lies and Changing Story: Did Robert Farquharson lie and keep changing his story? Or is this just a re-run of the Lindy Chamberlain case, who was also accused of lying and of changing her story, and where authorities did not want to believe the truth of the tragedy?
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The unlikelihood of the accident: Is this just "the prosecutor's fallacy"?
ROAD TO DAMNATION applies the principles of science to lift the lid on the Farquharson case