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t is hard to believe this was the place where Robert Farquharson murdered his three children on Father’s Day, 4 September, 2005. The dam, where he drove 10-year-old Jai, seven-year-old Tyler and two-year-old Bailey to their deaths, sits on the north side of the Princes Highway. It is about seven kilometres east of Winchelsea, and can easily be missed by drivers if not for the three white crosses planted at the foot of the wire fence that runs along the edge of the water. For Detective Senior Sergeant Gerard Clanchy, the location brings back memories of what he describes as the most tragic investigation he has worked on, in close to 10 years with the Homicide Squad. “Any murders are tragic, but ones that involve children are even worse,” he said. “It was horrible due to the deliberate callousness of the offender. His motive was to pay back his ex-wife, it’s as callous as you can get.” On the day of the incident, Farquharson, who was separated from his wife and had no prior criminal history, had taken the
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children to a shopping centre in Geelong and to visit his sister and was heading back to Winchelsea to return them to their mother. He claimed he had suffered a coughing fit and blacked-out before the car veered off the highway and plunged into the dam at about 7pm. Farquharson was able to escape, but his children drowned. Det Sen Sgt Clanchy, who now works with the Major Collision Investigation Group (MCIG) in Brunswick, was one of a number of Victoria Police members who attended the scene and worked to establish if a criminal act had taken place. He said the investigation centred on trying to explain how the car left the road and went into the dam. “It was a challenging investigation because it involved a number of different factors coming together to prove a crime was committed including the medical condition of Farquharson, the dynamics of his relationship with his ex-wife, the accounts of people who had spoken to him after the incident, the path the vehicle took to get to the dam and a conversation he had with a friend in the weeks before the drowning.” The MCIU conducted a number of tests at the scene including driving tests at different speeds using a vehicle of the same make and model, road tests and an examination of Farquharson’s car.
BAD MEMORIES .01 Det Sen Sgt Clanchy said the Farquharson case was the most tragic investigation he has worked on.
“The investigation certainly showed the car could only get to that part of the dam with someone deliberately steering it,” Det Sen Sgt Clanchy said. “Other testing showed a steering input was made to avoid hitting the middle of a tree near the path where the car drove in. “If he blacked-out as he claimed, the car would not have ended up where it did. “The tyre marks and marks on the grass leading into the dam showed there was no attempt to brake and the headlights were off even though it was pitch black.” While at the hospital, Farquharson told police his son opened the door and the car nose dived so he shut it and tried to get them out. He said he thought the car was in shallow water and that he could walk out and get them but the car sank deeper when he opened his door and got out. He claimed he made three or four attempts to save them. Victoria Police’s Search and Rescue Squad performed tests at a dam on a private property outside Melbourne in October 2005 where they submerged a vehicle into the water with a diver in the driver’s position to simulate Farquharson’s actions in the car. “It helped the jury understand what was going on in the car and what affect the water had on Jai
trying to open his door and Farquharson’s perception of being in foot-deep water,” Det Sen Sgt Clanchy said. “It showed that when a door opens the water would tilt the car to that side, so he would know he was not in shallow water.” Det Sen Sgt Clanchy interviewed Farquharson after the drownings and said he seemed withdrawn and was concerned about himself and did not talk much about the children. “It was hard to tell if what he’d done had sunk in and he was just talking about what it all meant for him,” Det Sen Sgt Clanchy said. The evidence gathered by police led to Farquharson being found guilty of murder in late 2007 and he was sentenced to three terms of life imprisonment. He maintained his innocence throughout the trial and appealed the verdict. The second jury also found him guilty and he was sentenced to life in prison, with a 33 year minimum, which he cannot contest. Det Sen Sgt Clanchy said Farquharson has yet to give his ex-wife a truthful account of what happened on that Father’s Day evening. “I have been in the job a long time and you find people can convince themselves they are not responsible for what they have done. “But when he’s locked away in his cell at night, he’ll know exactly what he did.”
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