Jail Robert Farquharson for life, urges QC

A MAN who murdered his three children by driving the family car into a dam should be condemned to spend the rest of his days in jail, the Supreme Court has heard.

Boys gone: Robert Farquharson killed his three sons.

A MAN who murdered his three children by driving the family car into a dam should be condemned to spend the rest of his days in jail, the Supreme Court has heard.

Robert Donald William Farquharson, 38, should receive three life sentences with no minimum term of imprisonment for the "particularly cruel" drowning murders of Jai, 10, Tyler, 7, and Bailey, 2, on Father's Day 2005, the prosecution submitted yesterday.

Farquharson had "wiped out his entire family in the one act" as punishment against his former wife and had shown no remorse, Crown Prosecutor Jeremy Rapke, QC, told the pre-sentence hearing.

"The children were all of tender years . . . but none were so young as to be immune from fear, shock, feelings of abandonment and plain terror in the last few moments of their lives," Mr Rapke said.

"Where was the father of these three children as they fought for their lives?

"He swam for his life, made, according to him, some desultory attempts to save his children and thereafter actively discouraged rescue attempts . . . put quite simply, a father does not abandon his children like that.

"Mr Farquharson is to be sentenced as much for the monumental act of betrayal that the murder of these three children represents as for the loss of their young lives."

Mr Rapke said the evidence of Farquharson's friend, Greg King, that the prisoner had spoken of killing his sons in a dam on Father's Day as revenge against his ex-wife two or three months before the actual incident revealed "the vilest and most wicked of reasons" for the murders.

"If . . . he loved his children dearly, then his decision to destroy that which he loved to pay back someone who he didn't, is reprehensible," the prosecutor said.

"It must surely be the depths of moral depravity to kill innocents -- to kill one's loved ones -- in order to effect retribution.

"In this case, there is a plethora of aggravating factors and an absence of any significant mitigating factors.

"For murdering his children in the manner that he did and for the reason that he did, Robert Farquharson should be condemned to spend the rest of days in jail."

But Farquharson's barrister, Peter Morrissey, pleaded with the judge to show as much mercy as he could to the Winchelsea man.

Farquharson was not a Machiavellian figure who had plotted his children's deaths, but a grieving father who strongly maintained his innocence, he said.

Mr Morrissey urged Justice Philip Cummins not to impose a life term, but said if he did then a non-parole period between 20 and 30 years was appropriate.

Describing Farquharson as an otherwise loving and devoted father, he said his client was already suffering and was "being punished every minute".

"He instructs me he is truly sad and intends on remaining so for the rest of his life," he said. "The boys are very much uppermost in his mind at all times and in all actions."

Mr Morrissey also urged the judge "to set aside completely" unreliable trial evidence from Mr King that his client had planned the murders two or three months in advance.

Even if the judge were to accept Mr King's evidence, Farquharson's alleged words were "a one-off expression of anger" and "not a plan . . . merely a thought that had arisen from time to time", he said.

Farquharson was an excellent prospect for rehabilitation, notwithstanding his plea of not guilty, and had no prior criminal history, Mr Morrissey said.

Justice Cummins said he would sentence Farquharson on November 16.