Child killer Robert Farquharson to appeal sentence
UPDATE 6.50pm: ROBERT Farquharson, today jailed for at least 33 years for killing his three boys, will appeal his sentence.
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UPDATE 6.50pm: THE mother of three boys killed by their father, Robert Farquharson, says his jail term is not long enough.
Robert Donald William Farquharson was given a minimum term of 33 years and some hope of parole after being found guilty of killing his children - Jai, 10, Tyler, 7, and Bailey, 2.
Lawyers for Farquharson immediately indicated they would appeal his sentence.
The boys' mother, Cindy Gambino, said the sentence wasn't enough.
"I don't believe it's enough, it's a life sentence for me, it should be a life sentence for him," she said.
Her mother Bev said: "It's not going to bring the boys back and we just need to move on."
Justice Lex Lasry today condemned the 41-year-old to life imprisonment but decided to grant him a 33-year minimum term for the murder of his three sons.
"You are 41 years of age and apparently in reasonable health” Justice Lasry said today.
"Providing you do not develop any serious health problems in the future, a life sentence without parole could result in you serving as much as approximately another 40 or more years in addition to time you have already served," Justice Lasry told Farquharson.
"As I have noted, on all the evidence, you are not a threat to the community as best as I can tell.
"You have no prior convictions, and prior to these terrible incidents, you could be properly described as a man of good character."
The boys' mother and Farquharson's ex-wife Cindy Gambino wept uncontrollably, and Farquharson sat shaking his head in the courtroom while the sentence was read.
Outside the court a supporter of Farquharson's said he was innocent.
Family friend Anne Irwin said "Robert Farquharson is innocent".
She said family and supporters are "not so blinded by love or sympathy that they would maintain his innocence if there was any evidence of guilt".
"Rob is a broken man, a traumatised and deeply grieving parent who loves his children," she said.
"He finds it dfficult to accept the deaths of his boys and will carry this grief with him forever."
Ms Irwin said Farquharson's grieving process was complicated because he has been labelled emotionless, but said experts considered it normal for someone in his situation.
"Walk a mile in his shoes ad see how you would behave," she said.
"The justice system has failed three young boys and their loving father."
She said his family are devastated and outraged at the verdict.
Farquharson drove the boys into a dam near Winchelsea on Father’s Day 2005 in a spiteful way of getting back at Ms Gambino.
He was found guilty by a jury in July after an 11-week re-trial, despite his protestations that he feel unconscious at the wheel during a violent coughing fit and accidentally ended up in the dam.
During the Supreme Court pre-sentence plea hearing, Crown prosecutor Andrew Tinney, SC, urged Justice Lasry to jail Farquharson for the rest of his life for committing the "worst category of murder".
He said the three boys were vulnerable and helpless little ones whose father should have protected and nurtured them instead of using them to inflict punishment on his Ms Gambino.
"The prisoner killed not one but all three of his children, wiping out his and his ex-wife’s family in one act," Mr Tinney said at the pre-sentence hearing.
Defence barrister Peter Morrissey, SC, urged for mercy, saying that condemning the killer dad to a hopeless existence would be inhumane and the punishment out of proportion.
Mr Morrissey said his client was of good character.
"Even accommodating a verdict as there was, it could not be doubted that he had a very geniune love for those boys as attested in sworn evidence," Mr Morrissey had said.
At the time, Justice Lasry commented: "Even if it’s momentary – if it’s a momentary crime - it’s a momentary crime of the most breathtaking proportions."
Farquharson was jailed for three life terms without parole after his first trial in 2007.
-With Lucie van den Berg
