Regular Dastardly readers should remember ARTHUR FREEMAN--the Australian dad who threw his daughter off a bridge (and killed her) as part of his custody vendetta against his children's mother.
It is absolutely chilling that this UNNAMED DAD would sympathize with this killer dad freak. And given that this father has a history of child abuse--AGAINST A 9-DAY-OLD newborn, no less--the courts were absolutely justified in cutting off his custodial rights. Note that this father wanted full custody, but had been, at least until recently, in a supervised visitation program.
Thank goodness the Australian courts are showing some signs that they will no longer be bullied by Australia's militant fathers rights crowd. Hopefully, this child's life has been spared as a result.
http://www.news.com.au/national/court-rules-dad-a-danger-to-son-after-sympathy-song-to-arthur-freeman/story-e6frfkvr-1226043581691
Court rules Dad a danger to son after sympathy song to Arthur Freeman Exclusive by Letitia Rowlands
From: The Daily Telegraph April 23, 2011 12:00AM
A SEPARATED father who was fighting for custody of his son has been banned from ever seeing the boy after he wrote a song sympathising with child murderer Arthur Freeman.
The Family Court heard the boy was born five months after Darcey Freeman died in 2009 and that the father had difficulty differentiating between his child and the dead girl.
The father, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, also admitted to dropping his son in anger during a confrontation with the child's mother when the infant was only nine days old in July 2009.
He wrote the song, which included the line "did anyone hear him?" on the first anniversary of Darcey's murder.
During proceedings, the man told the court he did not know the Freeman family but felt "grief" over the four-year-old girl's death and had performed the song at a festival. But a court expert described the song as "chilling" and said the lyrics had convinced her the man should not be allowed to spend any time at all with the boy.
She said the song appeared to make excuses for and justified the actions of Freeman, who was this month sentenced to life in jail for murdering Darcey by throwing her off a Melbourne bridge in January 2009.
"There was no mention of the mother or the other little children who had witnessed the incident," she told the court.
"I find [the father's] identification with [Freeman's] point of view quite chilling."
The 61-year-old Newcastle man, who before this strict order was made had been spending supervised time with his son at a community contact centre, will now not be allowed to see the boy at all.
He had applied to the court for the boy to live mainly with him and spend some time with the mother. He will now only be allowed to send the child birthday and Christmas presents and be given an updated photo of his son once a year.
The boy's 40-year-old mother will have sole custody and responsibility for him.
The court heard the mother has bipolar disorder but it is kept under control by medication and regular appointments with her psychiatrist.
In delivering the judgment, Judge Margaret Cleary noted a psychiatric report that said the father had narcissistic personality disorder.
Although the father does not accept the diagnosis, the issue would need to be addressed if he ever hoped to see his son again, she said.
For more on the father banned from seeing his son after writing a song sympathising with Arthur Freeman go to The Daily Telegraph.