Friday, January 18, 2013

Killer dad prolongs pain with endless appeals (Winchelsea, Australia)

Dad ROBERT FARQUHARSON has appeared at Dastardly Dads many times over the years. He was CONVICTED back in 2009 of murdering his three sons, basically to "punish" their mother and to assert his "control" in a custody issue.

It's unbelievable that this sh** still manages to dodge justice....

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/opinion/killer-father-prolongs-pain/story-e6frfhqo-1226556122506

Editorial

Killer father prolongs pain

by: Editorial From: Herald Sun January 18, 2013 12:00AM

THE emotion-charged case of triple child-killer Robert Farquharson is set to arouse yet more controversy with lawyers for the convicted murderer planning a High Court appeal bid.

The Winchelsea father is seeking to exhaust every avenue to dodge the minimum 33-year jail term imposed for driving his car into an icy dam, drowning his three young sons.

Farquharson's barrister Peter Morrissey SC plans to argue that the judge in the murder trial erred by not putting to the jury the alternative charge of manslaughter.

If the High Court allows the appeal, it will further drag out what has already been a seven-year legal saga. Farquharson was jailed for life without parole in 2009 but won a retrial on his first appeal. A jury found him guilty again in 2010, and he was sentenced to life with a minimum 33 years' jail.

He queried that conviction, too - but in a ruling issued last month, three Victorian Court of Appeal judges unanimously dismissed all three grounds his legal team relied on in the battle to regain Farquharson's freedom.

Throughout it all, Farquharson has maintained the Father's Day crash was an accident, caused after he blacked out from a coughing fit while driving the boys back home to their mother. It goes without saying that all Victorians are entitled to a fair trial, and to appeal a guilty verdict - even those charged with a crime as heinous as the murder of their three children.

By any measure, the justice system has given Farquharson his fair go. His ex-wife and mother of the three boys, Cindy Gambino, has been forced to endure years of extra torment.

It is in the interests of the victims' family - and also taxpayers - to end this legal marathon. Two juries made up of ordinary Victorians have already found him guilty of murder. And just weeks ago the Court of Appeal has found that verdict should stand.

Attempts to win a new trial on a legal technicality will simply prolong the agony for all involved. Farquharson needs to accept the sentence dealt to him, and let all those affected by this tragedy get on with their lives.