Robert Farquharson, who drowned three sons, to launch new appeal against life sentence

Robert Farquharson, found guilty of murdering his three young sons by driving into a dam outside Melbourne on Father’s Day, is preparing a new appeal against his life sentence by making use of miscarriage of justice laws introduced four years ago.

Robert Farquharson is appealing his life sentence. Picture: Craig Borrow

One of Victoria’s worst child killers – a father who drowned his three sons in a dam – is getting ready to launch a new appeal against his life sentence.

Robert Farquharson, twice found guilty of murdering his sons by driving his car into a dam outside Melbourne on Father’s Day in 2005, will launch a fresh bid for freedom by making use of new laws introduced into Victoria four years ago.

Farquharson’s three sons, Jai, 10, Tyler, 7, and Bailey, 2, drowned in the dam at Winchelsea near Geelong.

Farquharson, now 54, swam free of the wreck.

Jai, 10, Bailey, 2, and Tyler Farquharson, 7, drowned when the car driven by their father plunged into a dam.

The dam where the three Farquharson children lost their lives.

The cold-hearted killer will make a new bid for freedom under laws introduced in 2019 in which an appeal can be made if there is fresh and compelling evidence that shows a substantial miscarriage of justice has occurred.

Farquharson’s lawyer, Luke McMahon, told the Herald Sun a new appeal is in the works with the intention of lodging it in the coming months.

“Yes (an appeal will be made) and the aim is to file prior to the end of 2024,” Mr McMahon said.

Farquharson succeeded in overturning an initial conviction for the murders but was convicted again at a second trial.

Farquharson has always maintained his innocence, saying a coughing fit caused him to black out at the wheel of his Commodore, which then plunged into the icy dam beside the Princes Highway.

A friend testified, however, that Farquharson told him of the evil plot to kill his sons as an act of revenge against his estranged partner Cindy Gambino-Moules.

Ms Gambino-Moules died in 2022.

Robert Farquharson (centre) with his legal team at an earlier trial. Picture: Craig Borrow

Farquharson and Cindy Gambino-Moules at the funeral in 2005. Picture: Jon Hargest

Farquharson’s supporters include specialist respiratory doctor Chris Steinfort who believes the crash was an accident caused by a condition known as cough syncope which can cause a person to black out during a coughing fit.

Dr Steinfort testified at Farquharson’s previous trials.

“I think he’s an innocent man,” Dr Steinfort told ABC’s 7.30 program set to air Thursday evening.

“It’s always somewhat distressing when you believe someone has had a miscarriage of justice and that I was somehow involved in that process.”

Farquharson’s new appeal is expected to point to the case of Geoffrey Ferguson, a truck driver jailed over a fatal crash near Shepparton in 2015.

Ferguson, who was speaking hands-free on a mobile phone at the time of the crash, won his freedom after a court accepted that he had blacked out during a coughing fit.

Farquharson was found guilty of murdering his children by separate juries in 2007 and 2010.

He won a retrial against his first conviction due to errors in the 2007 trial.

In sentencing the killer dad in 2010, Justice Lex Lasry noted Farquharson had shown “no remorse for what you have done” and it “must have been a terrifying death” for the children.

A High Court bid by Farquharson to appeal his murder convictions was rejected in 2013.

Farquharson is serving a life term with a minimum non-parole period of 33 years at Barwon Prison.