Dad accused of murdering 3 children 'said he would take kids from his ex-wife' (Victoria, Australia)

Dad ROBERT FARQUHARSON is on trial for the murders of his 3 sons. According to a witness, Dad had threatened before the murders that "he was going to take the kids from his ex-wife." Note that Dad made no effort to rescue these children from the freezing water after the car "accident." It was Mom's boyfriend who dived in in an attempt to find them.

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/accused-killer-said-he-would-take-kids-20100512-ux8t.html

Accused killer 'said he would take kids'
DANIEL FOGARTY
May 12, 2010 - 6:54PM

AAP

A man accused of murdering his three sons by driving them into a dam on Fathers Day told a friend he was going take the kids from his ex-wife, a court has heard.

Robert Farquharson shrugged his shoulders when asked by friend Susan Hatty if that meant he was going to apply for custody.

Ms Hatty said Farquharson had been upset and talked about losing his car, his house, his wife and his kids, when they spoke on about four occasions between March and June 2005 at the local pub.

He had also mentioned he was paying child support, she told his murder trial in the Victorian Supreme Court on Wednesday.

"He mentioned to me that he was going to take the kids back off (his ex-wife) Cindy (Gambino)," Ms Hatty told the court.

The next time Ms Hatty spoke with Farquharson his three sons were dead.

On Father's Day 2005, Farquharson's car swerved across the Princes Highway, through a fence and into a dam near Winchelsea, in Victoria's southwest.

His sons Jai, 10, Tyler, seven, and Bailey, two, drowned.

Farquharson, 40, is facing a retrial charged with their murders.

On the night the boys drowned, Ms Gambino's boyfriend Stephen Moules dived into the freezing cold dam in a futile attempt to rescue them.

He had told a hysterical Ms Gambino: "Don't worry, babe, I'll find your kids" the court has heard.

Mr Moules jumped a fence, took his boots and jacket off and jumped in the dam.

"I just tried to feel my way," he said.

"I could not see a thing. It was absolutely pitch black.

"The water was extremely cold ... I was extremely cold, very quickly."

The court heard Mr Moules, now engaged to Ms Gambino, spoke to Farquharson who was standing "as a boss would overseeing a project" near the dam.

When Mr Moules asked him why he didn't try and get the children out, Farquharson replied: "I don't know".

Farquharson also told Mr Moules: "I blacked out, I woke up and I was in the water and all of a sudden the car started to sink," the court has heard.

Less than two hours before the car went into the dam, Farquharson and his sons had happily shopped at Kmart in the Geelong suburb of Belmont.

Farquharson's sister Kerri Huntington, who works at the store, said she saw Farquharson and the three boys in the toy aisle at around 6pm.

She chatted to them briefly and made arrangements for them to catch up the next weekend.

She said Farquharson caved in to the demands of his children and bought them toys.

"They were happy," Ms Huntington recalled.

She said her brother was coughing and didn't look well.

Ms Huntington said she was aware he had been sick.

The trial before Justice Lex Lasry is continuing.