Inside the uncomfortable investigation of a child killer

Did Robert Farquharson commit one of the most appalling crimes in Australian history, by deliberately driving his three sons into a dam on Father’s Day in 2005? Or has Australia once again wrongly imprisoned an innocent parent for the accidental death of their children?

At the heart of this story is a tragedy – the deaths of three young children. It devastated their families, and affected the whole community.

But mourning those deaths shouldn’t prevent us from having a hard look at the evidence that saw their father convicted and sentenced to 33 years for the murder.

That’s why I’ve chosen to investigate it in a new podcast from The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.

This is called a “strands of the rope” case. That’s the legal term – it essentially means that no single strand is necessarily enough to convict somebody but woven together, they make a case that is strong enough. In the Farquharson case, there are six main strands of circumstantial evidence.

But new scientific evidence and reassessments of the evidence of some of the witnesses have thrown new light on all six strands, to the extent that it raises serious questions about whether they are sufficient, either individually or together, to convict a man.

I find podcasting an extraordinary medium for telling this story. You’ve got length, you’ve got the ability to explore an issue from various sides. And most importantly, we’ve got access to material that nobody outside the courtroom has ever heard before.

Trial by Water is out now on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Episode 2 will be available exclusively to subscribers from June 8 and on your podcast app of choice from June 15.