Casefile True Crime - Case 167: Jai, Tyler & Bailey Farquharson

Episode Date: March 6, 2021

In Australia, Father’s Day falls on the first Sunday of September and is typically a time for families to gather together and celebrate. But on Father’s Day in 2005, the small Victorian town of Winchelsea was rocked by news that a local man named Robert Farquharson had driven his three young sons – Jai, Tyler and Bailey – into a dam. Robert survived, but all three boys drowned. --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research and writing – Erin Munro and Milly Raso Creative direction – Milly Raso Production and music – Mike Migas Music – Andrew D.B. Joslyn For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-167-jai-tyler-bailey-farquharson

Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis centre. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. This episode involves a crime against children. It may not be suitable for all listeners. In Australia, Father's Day falls on the first Sunday of September. Every year in the state of Victoria, the Father's Day Council awards one individual with the

prestigious Father of the Year award, a tradition held since 1956. A long list of celebrity top dads have received this recognition, but in recent years the council has focused on ordinary dads with extraordinary stories. In 2005, Dr Rob Moody was awarded Victoria's Father of the Year. As the chief executive of the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, Dr Moody had an esteemed career in the public health sector. But for his two children, Nick and Penny, it was his role as their father that truly defined him.

Understanding that not everyone is lucky enough to be raised by a loving father, Penny expressed her gratitude to her dad and explained why he deserved the win, stating, He's always there when I need help. On Sunday, September 4, 2005, far more humble celebrations were underway at a home in the Port City of Geelong. Shane and his partner were introducing the newest member of their family to their friends and relatives. The young couple had just become first-time parents, with mother and baby released from

hospital earlier that day. Shane had an extra special reason to celebrate the occasion. It was his first father's day as a dad. Late in the day, Shane and his friend Tony returned home to Winchelsea, a small township 113 kilometres from Melbourne. It was only a short visit, as the pair organised someone to look after their dogs overnight. It was after 7pm when they started the approximately 40-minute drive back to Geelong via the Princess Highway.

Prior to construction that expanded the number of lanes and that at a grassy median strip, the roadway on the outskirts of Winchelsea featured two undivided lanes, one travelling each way. Little in the surrounding landscape has changed over the years, which in 2005 featured rural flatlands. These were primarily large, fertile pastures dotted with trees and the odd shed or dam. Shane drove towards a section of the highway that rose to a railway overpass, three kilometres out of the Winchelsea town centre.

Suddenly, the car in front swerved around something. When Shane reached the same spot, a man leapt out from the darkness on the side of the road. Shane's brother had taken his own life months earlier. Suspecting the man was trying to do the same, Shane was compelled to pull over. The man, who was soaking wet and waving his arms, ran up to Shane. He was short, standing at just over 150 centimetres tall, with a stocky build and a noticeable paunch. He had brown hair and deep-set brown eyes.

What the fuck are you doing standing on the side of the road, Shane asked him? Are you trying to kill yourself, mate? The man was frantic and appeared out of breath. His words were lost in an incoherent babble of rambling, sobbing and swear words. What have I done? What's happened? He kept asking. Shane told him to calm down, but the man remained frazzled.

He wanted to speak to a woman named Cindy. He told Shane to give him a lift back to Winchelsea so he could tell Cindy that he had just killed the kids. Immediately following his chilling confession, the man asked Shane and Tony for a cigarette. Baffled, they handed him a few. The man went on to explain that he'd had a coughing fit while driving, which caused him to black out. He believed he had done a wheel bearing that caused his car to end up in the dam.

He had woken to find himself submerged in water up to his chest. There were two dams nearby. The man couldn't point out which one he had allegedly driven into. Shane looked towards the nearest one. He could barely make it out in the darkness. The surface was smooth like glass as if nothing had happened there. Sceptical of the man's claim, Shane didn't think any of the local dams were deep enough to completely submerge a car.

Shane offered to call the police or an ambulance, but the man refused. He and Tony also offered to jump into the dam to look for the man's children. But he replied, no, don't go down there, it's too late, they've already gone. The man continued to request a lift to Winchelsea to speak to Cindy. It seemed as though he mentioned her name at least a hundred times, but he was pointing in the opposite direction towards Geelong. Shane and Tony were equal parts unnerved and confused. They wondered whether the man was suffering from a mental illness or had made up the disturbing

story to hide the fact that he was trying to take his own life by leaping in front of oncoming traffic. Shane ultimately agreed to give the man a lift and guided him to the front passenger seat. It seemed that the man was unstable, Tony sat directly behind him so he could reach over and restrain him if required. Shane steered the car around and drove back towards Winchelsea. During the short ride, the man continued to ask himself, what have I done? When Shane drove into town, he turned on his car's interior light and realised he recognised

the man. It was a Winchelsea local who used to mow lawns around town when Shane was younger. The man's name was Robert Farquherson. Robert Farquherson was a born and bred local, having lived in Winchelsea almost all his life. For a time he'd had his own lawnmowing business, but by 2005 he was working two jobs as a cleaner. His friends and neighbours knew him as a friendly family man who loved Australian rules football.

In 1991, when Robert was in his early 20s, he visited the Winchelsea Hotel for a few drinks. There, he met 19-year-old Cindy Gambino. The two shared mutual friends and soon struck up a close friendship of their own. At the time, Cindy was embroiled in a long-term, tempestuous relationship. Everything changed when her boyfriend died suddenly in a car accident. Robert became a huge support to the grief-stricken Cindy. He visited her often at home to check in on her, and even helped her financially after

she lost her job at the local supermarket. At Christmas in 1992, Robert suddenly confessed his love to Cindy. Although Cindy considered Robert a friend only, he'd been nursing a secret crush on her almost since they first met. He wanted nothing more than for them to be together. The two soon began dating and had a whirlwind romance. In less than nine months, they'd moved in together and Robert proposed. Three days after they got engaged, Cindy discovered she was pregnant.

The young couple were worried about their finances, but Cindy was pleased she had always wanted to be a mother. On October 4, 1994, she gave birth to their first child, a baby boy they named Jay. Robert was excited to have a son, and the couple built a house for their young family. As he got bigger, it became clear that Jay was a real live wire and a generous kid with a mischievous sense of humour. He grew up to love the Essendon Bombers footy team, just like his dad, and enjoyed playing the sport too.

Almost four years after Jay's birth, Cindy and Robert welcomed a second boy into their lives, Tyler. Tyler was particularly affectionate, always wanting to give his mum cuddles, though a hint of cheekiness was evident in his smile. The family joked that Tyler's motto was, have food, we'll travel. Like his big brother, Tyler loved playing football. As described in the book On Father's Day by Megan Norris, Robert encouraged this passion by purchasing expensive footy boots for both his sons, telling people, only the best will

do. By the year 2000, Cindy and Robert decided they'd been engaged long enough and it was time to get married. The date was set for August 26, and they were wed at a local church. Their third son, Bailey, was born on New Year's Eve in 2002. He adored his two big brothers and followed them everywhere. He also famously loved animals. A neighbour had given the family a pet cockatiel that developed a special bond with Bailey,

perching on his shoulder and eating cereal from his hand. Although their family was now complete, Robert and Cindy's marriage didn't last. In late 2004, Cindy decided she wanted a separation, and Robert agreed. The couple remained amicable for their three boys. Robert moved in with his father until he could find a place of his own, while Cindy continued living in the family home with Jay, Tyler and Bailey. On the evening of Sunday, September 4, 2005, Cindy Gambino was at home, waiting. She busied herself by doing chores, but when 7.30 came and went with no sign of the old

Commodore, she began to wonder what the hold up was. Robert was notoriously punctual. Where could he be? At 7.35, Cindy was closing some curtains in the children's playroom when she sighted an unfamiliar car zoom around the corner and pull up outside. Moments later, someone was knocking frantically on her front door and shouting her name. Cindy ran over and yanked the door open. Standing on her front porch was Shane and Robert, who were saturated.

She babbled repeatedly, I've killed the kids, they're in the water, he told her, I must have had a coughing fit and passed out. I woke up in the water, I couldn't get them out. Cindy began screaming, where are they? Why didn't you stay with them? She launched herself at Robert and hid him. Shane realized he had made a mistake by bringing Robert to Cindy's home. The entire drive over, Shane had been wary of Robert's claims, but now the severity

of the situation sank in. He and his friend Tony left to notify the police, while an incredibly distressed Cindy leapt in her own car. It sat in the back seat, directing her to the dam near the railway overpass. Stephen Moles was expecting Cindy Gambino to arrive at his home any minute. The plan had been for her to quickly duck home and collect her boys, then head to his place for dinner while their children played together. While he waited, Stephen cooked a chicken stir fry and chatted with his 18-year-old

cousin, Aaron, who was also visiting. But the minutes ticked by with no sign of Cindy. The stir fry began to grow cold. Suddenly, Stephen's mobile phone rang. Aaron answered it, then handed it over to Stephen, saying, it's Cindy. As Stephen pressed the phone to his ear, he heard Cindy screaming. Rob has been in some kind of accident. The kids are in the water.

Like Cindy, Stephen was a divorced parent of three. The pair had become friends a year earlier when Cindy hired Stephen to lay the foundation for a new home Shane and Robert were building. Following Cindy and Robert's split, their friendship deepened. Although they had developed romantic feelings for one another, they were not yet officially together. Stephen wanted to wait until Cindy was officially divorced for that to happen. Stephen tried to understand what Cindy was saying, but the call disconnected before he

could find out where she was. He and Aaron jumped in Aaron's car and raced off to find her. While Aaron drove, Stephen called Cindy back. Through sobs, she managed to tell him the location Robert had taken her to. Stephen and Aaron pulled up at the overpass at 7.49pm. A section of timber and wire fence that spanned the length of the neighbouring paddock had been mowed down and was strewn across the ground. Through the darkness, they sighted Cindy running back and forth through long, wet grass.

She was screaming into her mobile phone at an emergency services dispatcher. Please, God, not my babies. Please don't take my babies. Please, God. That particular Father's Day started out well for Cindy. She visited Stephen Moll's early in the morning to give him some presents, an electric wok and a framed collage she'd crafted using photos of Stephen with his children. Stephen loved his gifts and suggested she and the boys come over later that night so

he could cook her a meal in the new wok. She then took her son's 10-year-old Jay, 7-year-old Tyler and 2-year-old Bailey to her parents' home for a Father's Day visit with their granddad. The boys presented their granddad with a gift and he in turn treated them to biscuits and icy poles. Jay also had fun steering his grandparents right on lawnmower around the property. He loved offering to mow their lawn because it felt more like a game than a chore. As an added bonus, his granddad always paid him $20 at the end.

Next, Cindy drove the boys to Robert's father's house so they could spend some time with their dad. Robert had custody of them every other weekend. Although Father's Day didn't fall on one of Robert's allotted weekends, Cindy had suggested he take their sons for the afternoon so they could celebrate the occasion with him. The boys were excited to give their dad his presents, a set of saucepans Cindy had bought to help Robert set up his new home and a framed photograph of the three of them squeezed side-by-side on a sofa.

However, Jay grew upset when he realized he'd forgotten to bring a back scratcher he'd purchased at his school's Father's Day market. Cindy reassured him that they could give Robert this additional present the next time they saw him. They'd arrived at about 3 p.m. and Jay and Tyler ran in to see their dad. At two years old, Bailey was somewhat shy and wanted to stay with his mum, but she encouraged him to go to Robert. Before leaving, Cindy embraced and kissed each of her boys in turn, telling them she

loved them. Bailey approached her with his arms out for a hug. As she cuddled him close, he said, Love you. Cindy handed Robert a backpack that contained nappies for Bailey. She asked him to bring the boys home by 7.30. In reply, Robert simply nodded. That Farquhson stood by the side of the highway, looking vague and remaining completely still. A car pulled to a stop nearby and Stephen Moles jumped out.

As he approached, Robert turned to him and asked, Where's your smokes? Stunned, Stephen couldn't fathom why Robert would be asking for a cigarette while his children were allegedly in trouble. Stephen snapped. How could you worry about a smoke at a time like this? Where are your kids? Robert raised an arm and pointed towards the paddock, stating, In the water down there. Cindy stood nearby, still on the phone, crying and pleading for help.

Stephen embraced her, then raced to the paddock. Moving off his jacket and boots as he ran, Stephen scanned the dark area for any sign of water. Up by the highway, Aaron moved his car so it faced down the embankment. He switched on its high beams, illuminating the pitch black expanse in front of him. Suddenly, a wide, rectangular shaped dam with curved corners became visible. A few skinny trees stood around its border. Stephen waded in.

The water was extremely cold. As he made his way around the edge of the dam, Stephen's feet slipped on the muddy soil below. His hands were outstretched as he grasped, hoping to find something. He dove into the icy water, his body aching with each attempt. Then and again, Stephen pushed himself forward into the dam's murky depths. He found nothing. The sound of sirens filled the air as first responders rushed to the scene.

At 8.07pm, the first ambulance arrived, then two police officers from Geelong pulled up. All paramedics, police, and the fire brigade soon followed. The loud whirring of a helicopter's blades could be heard overhead as a rescue helicopter hovered above the dam, shining a spotlight down on the water. There was still no sign of the Commodore or the missing Farquas and boys. Stephen Mulls, who was soaking wet and freezing, was escorted away by emergency workers. Cindy wept inside a family member's car. Robert stood outside, his face blank and arms crossed as he surveyed the scene.

Paramedic David Watson approached Robert and took him into an ambulance. He dried Robert off and wrapped him in thermal blankets before checking his lungs with a stethoscope. David didn't hear anything untoward. He asked Robert to cough. Robert did so, but didn't produce any flam. David noted that he was alert and lucid and exhibited no confusion. When David asked Robert to tell him what had happened, he replied.

I was driving home when I had a coughing fit, which caused me to black out and lose control of my Commodore, ending up in a dam, floating. My older son opened the car door, causing the car to fill up with water and sink. I then got out and flagged down a vehicle, went to winch to tell the police and my ex-wife. Robert explained that he'd had a severe cold recently. He'd had a persistent cough over the past few days, but had never blacked out before. Senior Constable Ted Harmon stopped by the ambulance and asked Robert to take a breath test.

He agreed and passed. When Constable Harmon asked what had happened, Robert explained that he'd experienced sudden chest pain, then blacked out. At 8.34 he was taken in the ambulance to Geelong Hospital to undergo a more thorough examination. Cindy was transported to Windchill Sea Hospital, where she was sedated and treated for shock. Senior Constable Rebecca Kasky was a professional diver with the Search and Rescue Squad. She arrived at the dam at 9.45pm, tasked with finding the Commodore. Some snapped twigs and broken housing from a car's side mirror on the ground indicated

the point where it had likely entered the water. Constable Kasky dove in and performed multiple sweeps of the area. Eventually, her fingers brushed against some plastic debris and pieces of metal. She was getting close. She had been in the water for more than 20 minutes when her head suddenly bumped into something. A car wheel. Robert's Commodore was perched vertically with its nose pressed into the ground.

It was 28 metres from the dam's edge and 7.4 metres deep. Constable Kasky was facing its underside. She swam to the surface. Knowing investigators would be treating the vehicle as a possible crime scene, Kasky returned to the dam's cold depths to seal it. All the windows were closed and only the driver's door was open. As Kasky went to close it, she fell to child's head protruding from the vehicle. She gently pushed it back inside and carefully closed the door.

Finally after midnight, a police SUV winched the Commodore out of the dam. Water gushed from the scraped and muddy vehicle as it was hauled to dry land. The bodies of all three Farquhusson boys were visible inside. 10-year-old Jay was lying face down across the front seats, free from his seatbelt. In the back was 7-year-old Tyler, who was also unrestrained. He lay on his right side on the rear driver's side seat with his feet on the centre console. Next to him was 2-year-old Bailey, who was tangled in the unsecured straps of his child's seat.

At the scene, Cindy Gambino's friend Stephen Moles turned to a police officer and remarked, I smell a rat, there's something not right. Cindy didn't share Stephen's suspicions. When she was well enough to speak with police, she told them that Robert was a devoted father who would never hurt his children. He'd never raised a hand to them and had no history of violence. Blood tests showed no evidence that Robert had been drinking alcohol or consuming drugs. He told his examining doctor at Geelong Hospital that he'd been sick with the flu for the past

fortnight. Two weeks before that, one of his colleagues had seen him cough so hard that he was bent double with his hands on his knees. On August 18, a local GP had diagnosed him with an upper respiratory infection. Robert saw the doctor again five days later, complaining of a chesty cough. His chest was found to be clear, but the GP had prescribed some antibiotics. Two days before the accident, another colleague witnessed Robert endure a 15-second coughing fit that was so extreme, she worried he was having a stroke.

The emergency ward doctor had x-rays taken of Robert's chest. They revealed no issues. Based on what Robert had described, the doctor made a provisional diagnosis of cough syncope, a condition where coughing can trigger loss of consciousness for up to 20 seconds. It was a rare condition mostly found in patients with asthma or chronic lung disease, neither of which Robert Farquherson suffered from. Shortly before 10pm, Senior Sergeant Jeff Smith and Senior Constable Rowan Curtis from Victoria's Major Collision Investigation Unit arrived to take Robert's statement.

That father's day had been low-key for Robert. He'd worked a shift at one of his cleaning jobs in the morning, then headed home in preparation for his son's visit. He was in his bedroom when Cindy dropped the boys off in the afternoon. The two eldest boys had run up to him, excitedly offering their gifts. After Cindy left, Robert had taken his three sons shopping at a local Kmart. He'd bought Jay a new cricket ball and DVDs for Tyler and Bailey. They ordered KFC for dinner, which the boys were very excited about.

At 7pm, they quickly paid a visit to Robert's sister at her home. Then they all piled back in the car so he could drop them at Cindy's. Jay sat next to Robert in the front passenger seat while Tyler sat behind him. Bailey was next to Tyler in his booster seat. There was a bit of traffic on the highway, so Robert made sure to drive under the speed limit of 100km per hour. He didn't want to take any risks with his children in the car. During the drive, Jay complained of being cold, so Robert turned the car heater on.

Soon, he broke out in a coughing fit. He speculated that the hot air from the heater had triggered it. The next thing he knew, Jay was shaking him awake and crying out. Dad, we're in the water. Shocked, Robert had replied, just sit there mate, don't panic. He claimed that Jay then opened his door, causing water to gush in. The car took a sharp nose dive. Robert reached across Jay to slam the door shut, then tried to unbuckle his children

from their seatbelts. He couldn't. The three boys were all screaming. Believing the water was only shallow, Robert opened his door so he could get out and run around to free his children. But the dam was deeper than expected, and the car sank rapidly. Robert tried to dive after it, but failed. It was so dark in the water that he quickly lost sight of the commodore.

He clambered to shore and flagged down a passing car for help. When recalling these events to police that night, Robert described everything as having happened so quickly, just a big blur. Both policemen noted that Robert seemed calm when telling his story. The only time he coughed was when he described the fit he'd had while driving. Robert didn't ask whether his children had been found. And Smith said carefully, Mate, do you realise that the children didn't make it out of the car?

Robert gave a short exhale before replying in a flat voice. I gathered that. Then he asked, I've never been in trouble before, so what's the likely scenario for me? Sergeant Smith and Constable Curtis were troubled. They compared what Robert told them about the accident with what he'd said to others and found some slight variations. At the scene of the crash, he told a police officer that he'd only suffered from chest

pain while remarking to others that he'd suffered a coughing fit. He'd also blamed a faulty wheel bearing for causing the Commodore to steer into the dam, indicating the car itself was responsible, not his coughing fit. There were also inconsistencies as to what exactly happened inside the car once it hit the surface of the water. Distinct actions had been performed in the vehicle that Robert failed to mention in his statement. The keys were in the ignition, but it was switched off.

The handbrake was also secured in position. The heater, which Robert believed had caused his coughing fit, was not on. Neither were the car's headlights. All of this was strange. The headlights in particular would have been on when Robert was driving, and if they remained on, they would have facilitated the search for the car. As for the other actions, if the accident was as unexpected and urgent as Robert claimed, why would anyone have the time or cause to turn these things off?

Police were also having trouble matching his statements with the physical evidence at the scene. Investigators from Victoria's Major Collision Investigation Unit had inspected the area in the clear light of day. The stretch of highway where Robert had veered off the road was smooth and straight, with no sharp corners or bends. There was nothing on the bitumen that would cause a car to unexpectedly skid off the road. In some roadside gravel, rolling tyre prints could be seen leaving the road.

There were also visible wheel tracks along the grassy embankment leading into the water. And squad investigators estimated that in order to land in the dam, the car must have turned right at an angle of approximately 30 degrees. It then crossed over the opposite lane, crashed through the wire fence, continued driving through the grassy embankment and scraped a tree on its left before arriving in the water. The distance from the edge of the road to the dam was 44 metres. The path travelled by the car had been clear and direct. Police couldn't find anything that indicated Robert had lost control of his vehicle.

There were no signs that Robert had slammed the brakes at any time. Experts checked whether there had been a mechanical failure that caused the fatal accident. They found no major faults with the Commodore, but discovered that it had a lot of wear and tear. It had clocked up 387,000 kilometres on its odometer, had second-hand tyres, and the engine was known to cut out on occasion. A mechanic who'd recently serviced the car had noticed that it tended to drift a right while being driven.

He'd recommended a wheel alignment to correct this, but didn't have the equipment to do so himself. He performed a wheel balancing instead. A police examination found no problems with the car's wheel alignment. The right rear door, next to where Tyler had been seated, was faulty and could only be opened from the inside. When the car was recovered, both of the rear doors were locked, with a child-proof lock also engaged on the faulty one.

Disturbed by the turn that the case was taking, Sergeant Smith began compiling two lists. One, he titled, he did it. Under that, he wrote down a number of incriminating facts, such as Robert's demeanour, his inconsistent story, the way the scene didn't match what he'd described, and Robert's insistence above all else on being driven to his ex-wife so he could be the one to tell her that their sons had died. The other list was labelled, he didn't do it. The only thing Sergeant Smith could think to write under that one was, who could be

this evil? Victoria Police's Homicide Squad officially took control of the investigation, with Detective Senior Sergeant Gerard Clanchy at the helm. One of their first actions was to conduct a formal interview with Robert Farquhusson, who had been discharged from hospital. Detective Clanchy and Senior Constable Andrew Stamper drove to Robert Street and found journalists and TV crews already gathered there. Winshillsie was close-knit, so news of the tragic incident spread quickly.

But its impact was far greater than the small touristy town. The entire state was in mourning for the three young boys. Clanchy and Stamper approached the house that Robert shared with his father, Don. It was a cramped, cold place that Cindy had nicknamed the Morgue. Prior to Robert moving in almost a year earlier, his father had lived there alone since Robert's mother died of lung cancer in 2002. Her loss had been devastating to Robert. He had been his mother's favorite child.

The two officers knocked on the front door. Don answered and ushered them inside to where Robert was sitting. They informed Robert that they needed him to accompany them to police headquarters in Melbourne for a recorded interview. He agreed. The three men piled into the police car for the two-hour journey. Constable Stamper sat in the back seat with Robert and chatted with him throughout the drive while Detective Clanchy drove.

Unbeknownst to Robert, Stamper was wearing a wire. After some friendly back-and-forth, the Constable asked Robert what he thought might have happened the night that his sons died. Robert said he struggled to remember all of the details but was adamant it had been an accident. He'd done all he could to save his boys. He maintained his version of events when the formal interview commenced at the police headquarters. Once again, he detailed how he had a coughing fit and awoke to find his car in the dam.

He had no idea how its headlights and ignition came to be turned off. When asked why he'd insisted on being driven to Cindy's house after the accident instead of seeking help, Robert replied, I don't know, I can't answer that. Although Jay, Tyler and Bailey were found unrestrained, the officers had confirmed this was not Robert's doing. The boys had somehow managed to free themselves. They asked why he hadn't managed to unbuckle any of their seatbelts.

Robert's tone became indignant. He responded, I've got two arms, two legs, I can't save three. His lower lip trembled but to detectives, it appeared that he was only pretending to look distressed. Despite his recent marriage breakdown, Robert said he bore his ex-wife no ill will. Their relationship had begun to falter a few years earlier. Cindy had realised she'd never truly been in love with Robert and felt he was more of a friend.

Robert also struggled with depression following his mother's cancer diagnosis and resisted Cindy's requests to seek help. By the time he finally did so in October 2004, Cindy told him she wanted a divorce. Cindy told Robert not to worry about paying child support and to focus on saving money for his own home instead. But Robert insisted, pointing out that it would be illegal for him not to provide financially for his kids. He also continued paying off the mortgage on the family home without resistance.

The only bone of contention was the division of the couple's two cars. They owned two Holden Commodores. One was a 1989 white model with a lot of wear and tear, while the other was a 2002 silver VX. Cindy insisted on having the newer car as she would be the parent responsible for driving the children around the most. Robert agreed, but was annoyed about being stuck with, quote, the shit car, while Cindy got the good one.

He told the two officers that he wasn't jealous that Cindy had already seemingly moved on with Steven Miles. She'd gone out of her way to make sure he stayed involved in the boys' lives. It was adamant that Cindy and her family didn't blame him for the accident and had already visited him to reassure him of that. When Clanchy asked Robert point blank if he'd deliberately driven into the dam, Robert replied, No, I did not. His eyes slid away from the detectives.

It demanded that police have him take a polygraph test to prove he wasn't lying. Detectives agreed, and he subsequently sat for a test at Geelong police station. It failed to provide a clear result. When Cindy found out that her ex-husband had been questioned by homicide detectives, she was devastated. She was certain that her son's deaths had been a tragic accident. The thought that Robert was under suspicion exacerbated her grief and anguish. Autopsies confirmed that all three boys had drowned.

There was nothing in their systems that indicated they had been drugged before their deaths. Jay had several abrasions on the left side of his forehead and face, which had likely come from his head hitting the windscreen. The boys had no other notable injuries. In the days after the accident, three small white crosses were erected along the highway near the dam. Locals visited to leave flowers, cards and toys. Cindy and Robert began making funeral plans.

Cindy purchased the burial vault for Jay, Tyler and Bailey at Winchelsea Cemetery. She also bought a plot alongside her for herself so she could be laid to rest with her boys when she passed. Ten days later, Robert followed suit by purchasing an adjoining grave. On September 14, hundreds of Winchelsea residents gathered at St John the Baptist Catholic Church, including children from the local primary school and Jay's scout group. Big chairs and a giant screen had been set up outside to accommodate the mourners who wouldn't fit inside the small bluestone chapel.

At the front of the church were three small caskets, each of which had been personalized with a memento. Jay's had a football pendant he'd recently been awarded, Tyler's had an Essendon Football Club bear and Bailey's had a toy chainsaw and a Bob the Builder hat. Inside, each of the boys wore a locket that Robert had purchased specially and filled with a photo of their parents. At the end of the service, the boys' favorite song, Holdly Grail by Hunters and Collectors was played for the congregation as pallbearers carried their caskets from the church.

Cindy wailed as her boys were taken to the waiting hearse. Press photographers captured pictures of her clutching Robert supportively, whose face was also contorted with grief as they walked outside into the spring sunshine. Meanwhile, the homicides squad continued their investigation. They spoke to the owner of the property where the dam was located. He said that over the past eight years, seven vehicles had crashed through his fence from the highway. Robert Farquasen's was the only one that had ended up in the dam.

Acting Sergeant Glenn Urquhart of the Major Collision Investigation Unit carried out a series of tests. He used a 1990 Holden Commodore with a video camera set up inside to film the entire experiment. Tire prints left by Robert's car indicated he'd been travelling at a speed of around 60km per hour. Urquhart set off down the same stretch of highway, cruising along at 64km. When he took his hands off the wheel, it didn't veer right as Robert Farquasen's car had, but instead, began to drift to the left.

Urquhart tried again multiple times, testing out the faster speeds of 82 and 101km as well as the much slower one of 10km. In those three instances, the car continued travelling directly ahead in a neat straight line. Although Robert's mechanic said his car was inclined to veer right, Urquhart knew there was a big difference between a slow drift across lanes and the sharp turn the Commodore had taken. Using a specialised computer software program, Urquhart reconstructed the car's path.

He found that Robert must have turned his steering wheel at a 220 degree angle in order for the car to take the dramatic trajectory it had travelled. After turning right off the highway, Robert would have had to drive straight towards the dam, then veer right again to avoid hitting a nearby tree. It stood to reason that none of these actions could have been taken if he was unconscious at the time. Police also carried out experiments at a similar dam in the regional city of Ballarat to see how long it would take a vehicle to sink.

They kept the location a secret to prevent members of the press turning up. After plunging into the water, the car bobbed on the surface, floating harmlessly. Only when a police diver opened the driver's side door did it start to sink. Within 15 seconds, it had reached the bottom. This various medical tests had revealed nothing that could account for a coughing fit so extreme that it resulted in him losing consciousness. Detectives consulted doctors who concluded that Farquharson's version of events were highly unlikely at best.

Several days after police began looking into the case, officers in Geelong received a phone call from a man named Colin who had a tip for them. Colin was a former policeman who now worked at a local bus company. He was worried. One of his drivers was a close friend of Robert Farquharson's and had appeared increasingly distressed in the days following the accident in Winshawsey. He suggested detectives speak to the driver, whose name was Greg. Officers brought Greg into the station.

He seemed relieved when he was asked to share what he knew. Two months prior to the accident, Greg had driven his children to Winshawsey's fish and chip shop at six o'clock on a Friday evening. While his kids went inside to collect the family's order, Greg waited out the front in his car. Robert Farquharson was also in the shop with his own children, but he came outside for a chat when he spotted Greg's car. Greg noticed that Robert seemed down in the dumps.

As the two were talking, Cindy Gambino also pulled up in her silver Commodore. She smiled and said hello to the two men before entering the shop where her two sons were. Robert ignored her. Greg reprimanded Robert for being rude, but Robert became angry, snapping, I've got nothing. Nobody does that to me and gets away with it. It's all her fault. He was furious about Cindy driving the family's new car that he'd paid $30,000 for while he was stuck with the fucking shit one.

Even worse, he sometimes saw Cindy's new boyfriend, Stephen, driving the car. He was enraged at the thought that Stephen might move into the home he and Cindy had built together while Robert was still paying off its mortgage. Finally, he said, she's going to pay big time for this. I'm going to take away the most important thing to her. As he said this, Robert nodded his head towards the fish and chip shop where his ex-wife and children were still inside. When Greg asked what he meant by the statement, Robert mumbled something about having had

a dream where he drove into a dam. He survived the accident, but all of his sons died. Greg had been horrified by Robert's comments, but before he could inquire further, their conversation was interrupted by Greg's kids returning. He and his children headed home, where Greg immediately told his wife about Robert's disturbing remarks. His wife later said she had no memory of this conversation. Although Greg was troubled, he didn't really think anything would come of Robert's threats.

Robert was known to whinge and complain, and Greg suspected he was angry, but would never actually act out his rage. Two months later, when he heard that Robert had driven his three sons into a dam and was the only one to survive, Greg became distraught. He couldn't stop thinking about their conversation. He felt sick with guilt that he hadn't done anything about it. Greg had nightmares about the accident and cried unexpectedly. His distress was obvious to everyone around him and led to Colin calling the police.

After providing detectives with two statements, Greg agreed to help them by reaching out to Robert. He would ask his friend about the accident, all the while recording the conversation by wearing a wire. Greg had been too upset to attend the Farquharson Boys' funeral, so he paid a visit to Robert at home the day after they were laid to rest. He apologized for his absence the day prior. That shrugged it off, saying, A lot of people didn't come.

I understand that. It's a million times harder for me, so you don't have to say nothing. I know. Greg reminded Robert of their conversation outside the fish and chip shop and added, I hope it's got nothing to do with that. Robert immediately denied having meant anything nefarious by his previous remarks, saying, No, no way. No, no, no, no, no.

You know I would never. Greg confided that police had asked to speak with him and he was freaking out at the prospect. Robert encouraged him to tell them what an excellent father he'd been. He urged Greg to avoid mentioning the fish and chip shop conversation altogether, lest investigators get the wrong idea. Despite Greg's repeated attempts to draw out a confession, Robert insisted the crash had been nothing more than a tragic accident, saying, No way I would do anything like that. That has never, ever entered my mind.

When police later listened to the recording, they were encouraged to hear that Robert had acknowledged the fish and chip shop conversation. Maybe if pressed again, he might make a full admission. They had Greg repeat the exercise one month later, on October 13. This time, Greg asked Robert what he'd meant about having a dream where he drove into a dam. Robert denied making such a comment, stating, I never, never said that. You're getting it all wrong, all twisted.

I meant, one day Cindy's going to wake up that I'm not as weak as Piss as what she thought. I'm going to accomplish something. He was upset that his friend would suggest such a thing. He admitted he'd initially been angry at Cindy following their split, but they'd been on good terms by the time he ran into Greg at the fish and chip shop. He also claimed that he'd blacked out from coughing about a week before the accident. On September 1, Robert had told a friend that he'd had a coughing fit while driving and briefly passed out behind the wheel.

When he woke, he realised his car had continued travelling an additional 20 metres down the road. Detectives were surprised by this sudden mention of another blackout. They asked Greg to keep reflecting on the fish and chip shop conversation and to write down anything else that he remembered. Meanwhile, they kept investigating. They tapped Robert's phone, but captured nothing incriminating. Throughout November, Greg couldn't stop thinking about the conversation.

More details were coming back to him. As these memories returned, he typed notes on his computer, keeping a written record of each new recollection. The more he wrote, the more he recalled. Greg remembered that when he asked Robert what he meant by saying he'd take the most important thing away from Cindy, Robert looked directly at him and said, kill them. Greg called his bluff, saying, bullshit, that's your own flesh and blood, Robbie. Robert retorted, so I hate them.

Then he detailed how he would have an accident in a dam and it would take place on Father's Day. That way, everyone would remember it and he would be the one with the boys during their final moments. On every Father's Day that followed, Cindy would be tormented by the memory of how her sons died. Greg forwarded his typed document to Detective Jared Clanchy and a warrant was issued for Robert's arrest.

On December 14, 2005, Robert voluntarily surrendered himself to the Geelong police station accompanied by his lawyer. He was charged with three counts of murder and remanded to custody. He was granted bail two weeks later after his lawyer successfully argued that Robert was a low flight risk and had tremendous support throughout his community. Cindy Gambino was devastated to learn her ex-husband was charged with murdering their three sons. Robert had been a proud and dedicated father who encouraged his children's hobbies and

took them out for fun activities like swimming and bike riding. She couldn't believe he'd be capable of deliberately harming them, nor would he ever want to. She was also aware that Robert was prone to suffer from bad coughs each winter. To her, his version of events seemed entirely plausible. Much of the Winchelsea community shared Cindy's support of Robert, with one of her relatives telling the Herald Sun newspaper, nobody believes it. But other members of the public had their doubts. They thought Robert's story about a coughing fit sounded utterly absurd.

Since the deaths of her sons, Cindy Gambino had become fixated with the colour purple. It was a colour she'd always loved, and the fact that new age types believed it was associated with healing made it even more appealing. When Robert's trial began in Victoria's Supreme Court on August 21, 2007, Cindy made sure she was wearing purple as she attended in support of her ex-husband. When it was time for her to take the stand, she sobbed as she described how Robert had appeared at her home, soaking wet and babbling that their children had drowned. Following the tragedy, Cindy had a number of conversations with Robert in which she

offered support and comfort. Even though she didn't hold him responsible, she knew how guilty he must have felt. She was adamant that there was no way he could have killed their children on purpose. After Cindy finished testifying, she left the courtroom. She could be heard wailing outside. Early on in the trial, the jury was driven from Melbourne out to the dam in Winchelsea so they could survey the site for themselves. The three white crosses symbolizing the young lives lost there still stood by the highway.

Acting Sergeant Glenn Urquhart of the Major Collision Investigation Unit told the jury about his work on the case and how Robert Farquherson had to drive deliberately and turn his steering wheel 220 degrees to end up in the dam. A defence expert dismissed Urquhart's evidence, arguing that there should have been sideways skid marks on the road if Robert had driven as Urquhart described. He believed the car's reported tendency to drift right and the slight right-leaning slope of the road would have been enough to accidentally drive into the dam. The prosecution's star witness was Robert's friend, Greg.

As the covert recordings he'd made of his chats with Robert were played to the court, Robert repeatedly shook his head. The defence found it suspicious that the more Greg spoke to police, the more incriminating and detailed his recollections had become. They suggested Greg was so disturbed by the tragedy that he couldn't distinguish between his nightmares and reality. But Greg firmly defended his evidence. Coming forward had been incredibly painful, but he'd done it because he felt obligated

to do so. Robert's legal team opted against calling him to the stand to testify in his own defence. Instead, their case hinged on expert testimony regarding Robert's claim that he'd blacked out following a coughing fit. Dr Christopher Steinfett, a thoracic specialist, informed the court that he thought Robert exhibited some classic symptoms of a cough syncope. Although this was a highly rare condition usually seen in people with chronic lung disease, Dr Steinfett said it could be triggered by a bout of the flu.

It was a condition he was familiar with. Roughly 15 patients who'd attended his private practice over the past decade had reported instances of a cough syncope. More recently, a GP had informed him of another case where a man who was driving his children to a football game suffered a coughing fit and ran his car off the road. Dr Steinfett examined Robert Farquhusson on a number of occasions following the damn accident. Although Robert didn't suffer from lung disease, he was an overweight smoker with sleep apnea,

which could make him more prone to coughing bouts. He'd also been witnessed coughing severely in the past. But Matthew Norton, a specialist in sleep and respiratory medicine who testified for the prosecution, believed it was highly unlikely Robert had suffered from a cough syncope. Anything he'd ever seen or read about the disorder in medical literature pointed to individuals with healthy heart, lung, and neurological functions experiencing it. He thought it was even less likely that Robert would have passed out as the car was warm due to its heater being on.

Although Robert had claimed he'd blacked out on at least one other occasion due to coughing, this couldn't be confirmed by any eyewitnesses or medical evidence. To demonstrate that Robert had never had any desire to harm his family, the defence also called his counsellor to the stand. Following his split with Cindy, Robert finally started receiving treatment for depression that he'd experienced since his mother's illness and death several years earlier. He'd had about six appointments with a counsellor named Peter Popko, telling him how upset he was over the breakdown of his family.

Robert never expressed any suicidal ideation, nor did he mention wanting to hurt Cindy or their children. The only person he seemed to want revenge against was Stephen Miles. Robert had detailed a fantasy in which he would provoke Stephen into punching him, then take him to court for assault. This revelation came as no surprise to Stephen. He'd met Cindy and Robert shortly before the couple broke up. Although he and Cindy quickly developed a connection, Stephen had recently gone through

his own messy divorce. He was adamant that he wouldn't become involved with a woman who was still married. Instead, he'd inadvertently become a confidant to Robert. After Robert moved out of his and Cindy's home, he began turning up at Stephen's house almost every night of the week, crying and seeking advice. Stephen made suggestions as to how Robert could improve his situation, but Robert never listened or changed his behaviors. He just complained incessantly.

After a couple of months, Stephen grew fed up with Robert's constant whinging and told him, You know what? You're an idiot. You don't want your wife back. He said Robert should grow up and act like a father instead of a spoiled little boy. Robert stopped asking for Stephen's advice after that, and Stephen subsequently grew closer to Cindy.

On October 2, the jury retired to consider their verdict. Two days later, it was Jay's 13th birthday. Robert arranged for someone to deliver three red tulips to his son's grave, along with a handwritten note that read, Dear Jay, thinking of you on your birthday, love you, dad. On October 5, the jury finally returned. Robert stood, dressed in a grey shirt and a charcoal-coloured tie and trousers, as the jury foreman announced the first verdict.

Guilty of the murder of Jay Farquhwason. Shocked, Robert dropped to his seat. Cindy cried out in despair. Continuing on, the foreman confirmed that Robert had also been found guilty of murdering Tyler and Bailey Farquhwason. Cindy screamed, Why? Why? Why?

Her mother Bev fainted. Both women were escorted to an ambulance and treated for shock. One month later, Robert returned to the Supreme Court for sentencing. He kept his head down as the judge addressed him. You wiped out your entire family in one act. Only two parents remained. You, because you had always intended to save yourself, and their mother, because you intended her to live a life of suffering.

He sentenced Robert to three life sentences. He refused to set a minimum term, excluding the possibility for parole. Outside the court, a statement was read to reporters on Robert's behalf. I received a life sentence on the night my boys died, so I don't care much about what other people think of me. I will appeal the verdict, because I will not have the public believe that Jay, Tyler and Bailey were anything less than the most important part of my life. Robert Farquhwason's legal team intended to fight his conviction on 24 separate grounds,

but their main argument was that the prosecution had withheld vital information. Namely, that their star witness, Greg, was a violent man who testified against his best friend in exchange for having his own criminal charges reduced. Eight months before Robert's trial, Greg had been drinking at a pub with his brother-in-law. The pair entered into a physical altercation with some other patrons, one of whom Greg hit three times in the abdomen. After Greg was charged for the assault, Detective Jared Clanchy wrote him a character reference, explaining that he'd been under immense strain due to acting as a police witness in a high-profile

case. Several weeks after Robert's sentencing, Greg pleaded guilty to a single charge of recklessly causing injury, was placed on a 12-month good behavior bond, and ordered to pay a $750 fine. Robert's defense hadn't been aware of Greg's brush with the law, so were denied the chance to question his character while he was on the stand. On December 17, 2009, it was confirmed that three judges had overturned Robert's conviction and ordered that a new trial be held. Robert was released on $200,000 bail.

His family and supporters were overjoyed. These two sisters attended his bail hearing wearing badges that read, in rob we trust, and fact before theory. But not everybody was celebrating the decision. One individual who was extremely troubled to hear about Robert's release was a woman named Dawn. It was getting late on Sunday, September 4, 2005, when Dawn drove along the Princess Highway.

By 7pm, she was approaching Winshillsie. The early spring weather had been damp and overcast all day. Clouds still hung in the air, masking the stars and making the evening particularly dark. Dawn switched on her headlights high beams to illuminate the poorly lit roadway. That's when she noticed the vehicle up ahead, a light-colored, older model Holden Commodore. It had seen better days. The speed limit on the highway was 100km per hour.

Dawn found herself quickly gaining on the car ahead. It was travelling very slowly at around half the speed limit. Its brake lights flashed on and off several times and it kept drifting towards the white line separating the two lanes. Dawn decided to overtake the car as the way the driver was veering dangerously close to the opposite lane made her nervous. She flashed her headlights as a warning of her intentions. She then crossed to the opposite lane and accelerated.

As she drew level with the car, Dawn glanced over at its driver. He was a clean shaven man in his late 30s with dark hair. She tried to make eye contact with him and raised her hands in a questioning gesture as though to ask what exactly he was doing. Even though the man kept glancing to his right, he refused to look at her. His expression was blank as he repeatedly checked his side mirror. It appeared as though he was looking for something, possibly a particular turn-off. As she passed, Dawn also noticed three young children sitting in a row in the back seat

including a fair-haired boy who looked to be about seven or eight years old. He was sitting directly behind the driver with his face pressed against the window. Once Dawn had passed the Commodore, she returned to the left lane. At this point, the highway was gradually rising over a railway track. Dawn sped up the overpass then glanced back at her rear view mirror. The Commodore was in the distance. Its headlights veered right and disappeared. Dawn assumed the driver had turned down an adjoining road.

The following evening, Dawn was in her kitchen preparing dinner while watching the news. Footage was shown of Robert Farquharson's car being winched from the dam and Dawn instantly recognized it. She cried out to her daughter. That's the car, that's the car. Although Dawn was incredibly disturbed by the turn of events, she didn't report what she'd seen. Her family had been under a great deal of strain at the time.

Early in 2005, they'd relocated from New Zealand to Australia. They ran a dairy farm in Warnambool, a near two-hour drive from Winchelsea. When Dawn began experiencing chronic illness later that year, she struggled to keep on top of managing the farm. Then, her father and both of her parents-in-law passed away and her 16-year-old daughter lost a close friend in a tragic road accident. All of this stress meant she wanted to avoid another difficult matter. Consequently, Dawn hadn't followed Robert's trial, but was relieved when she heard that

he'd been charged and ultimately convicted. When she saw that he had won his appeal, she decided that this time she had to speak with the police. After hearing from Dawn, investigators contacted Cindy Gambino to inform her of this new development. Dawn pronounced to them, Cindy had been grappling with her own concerns for some time. Once Robert was incarcerated, he hadn't called Cindy or responded to any of her letters. She'd asked to be put on his visitors list so she could see him in person, but he wouldn't add her, despite accepting visits from their mutual friends.

Cindy was baffled and angry. Why was Robert refusing to see the one person in the world who could understand his pain? She wondered if perhaps her ex-husband didn't want to look at her because she would be able to tell if he was lying. Stephen Miles listened to her concerns patiently. He believed Robert was guilty from the beginning, but deliberately withheld his opinion from Cindy, sensing her faith in Robert's innocence was a coping mechanism. The thought that her sons might have lost their lives because of Robert's anger at her

was too painful to contemplate. Cindy kept turning over the events in her mind. Her marriage had never been a happy one. In fact, she'd even doubted whether she should be with Robert on their wedding day. By then, they already had two sons, and Robert had proved he wasn't the supportive partner Cindy initially thought he would be. He could be childish, throwing tantrums when household appliances didn't work and leaving much of the parenting to her.

When the boys were babies, he'd refuse to change their nappies or take turns in feeding them. Cindy had to manage all the day-to-day running of their household, paying bills, preparing meals, and performing basic repairs. She complained to one friend that the relationship was a mortgage, not a marriage. As well as having depression, Robert was diagnosed with avoidant personality disorder, which made him insecure, socially awkward, and hypersensitive to perceived slights. But he had been reliable in one sense – he'd always managed to hold down a steady job.

The one exception was when he decided to purchase a lawn mowing franchise and the business failed miserably, leaving him $40,000 in debt. Robert's behavior with their children had often unsettled Cindy. He never smacked them as a form of discipline, but he'd once told her that was because he was scared he'd go overboard if he did. He relentlessly teased the two eldest boys, pushing their buttons until they would start crying or stomp out of the room. It always seemed more like bullying than good-natured roughhousing.

He'd also been cruel towards her, calling her fat mama, grabbing at her body while she was cooking or cleaning and sulking when she wasn't in the mood for sex. By October 2004, Cindy had had enough. She'd never been in love with Robert, and she told him she wanted a divorce. After they separated, Robert stalked Cindy, driving past her house at all hours of the day. He became fixated with her new relationship and was furious at the thought of another man becoming a father figure to his sons.

Yet, he refused to look after the boys when Cindy needed a babysitter, including on one occasion when she had to go to hospital. He made menacing threats, saying things like, I've got contacts, don't underestimate me. On the night of September 1, four days before her sons died, Robert called Cindy at home. Throughout the conversation, Cindy noticed that he sounded very depressed. She was concerned enough that she mentioned it to Stephen's mother, who advised her to just watch out. But Cindy had never dreamed that her boys might be in danger.

She suspected that Robert was suicidal, not homicidal. Cindy continued to believe in Robert's innocence throughout his trial, though she was troubled by Greg's testimony. It didn't make sense that a close friend of Robert's would come forward with such a story if it wasn't true. When she heard Robert had won his appeal, Cindy didn't feel relieved at all. She began to realize that perhaps she'd been in denial about her ex-husband's role in their son's deaths.

When Detective Clanchy called to tell her that a witness had come forward, she decided to provide police with a new statement. This time, she'd reveal some things she'd previously kept hidden about her ex-husband. The next time Cindy said eyes on Robert was when she walked into Victoria's Supreme Court for his retrial on May 4, 2010. Cindy and her supporters all wore her trademark shade of purple, and her hair was streaked with violet highlights. When she took the stand, she spoke openly about the problems before, during and after

her marriage. Several times, she glanced at Robert. Her expression grew angry when she was asked to identify him as her children's father. When the defense grilled Cindy on why she was changing her stance after initially supporting Robert, she replied, I've had five years to think about this. He killed my kids. Dawn also testified about what she'd seen on the night of the accident.

Robert Farquharson hadn't taken the stand during his previous trial, but at his retrial, he was the defense's first witness. He fidgeted awkwardly as he swore on a Bible. His small stature seemed exaggerated by the formal shirt and tie he was wearing. He refused to look at Cindy. Robert repeated his story about having a coughing fit and waking to find the car bobbing in the dam. Although Dawn's testimony indicated all three boys were squashed together in the back of

the car, Robert insisted that Jay had been sitting beside him in the front passenger seat. He was unable to answer a number of questions, claiming he couldn't recall some details or wasn't sure of certain things. Under cross-examination, the prosecution asked why Robert hadn't tried harder to free his children. Why hadn't he leaned across the back seat to undo two-year-old Bailey's booster seat? Robert simply answered,

I probably had no thought process. He wasn't sure how the rear doors had come to be locked, but suggested Bailey might have inadvertently switched them off by playing with the latch. Robert said he'd seen Jay open the passenger door, causing water to flood the car, even though the headlights were off and it was pitch black. He couldn't say how or when the lights were switched off. The prosecution suggested he'd turned them off to prevent the car from being easily found. He denied this, now insisting that they and the ignition were both on when they landed

in the water. The prosecution asked, Is there any person in the car who could possibly have turned off the ignition other than you? Well, Jay could have easily, said Robert. The jury looked shocked. The prosecution responded, Are you seriously suggesting that one of your children, in the moments before they died, would have had any reason to turn off the ignition of that car?

Robert protested that he was simply trying to answer as best as he could. He had no reason for wanting it to be dark out in the dam. After watching Robert's testimony, Cindy had no doubt that he'd avoided her because he was lying. She was disgusted by him. It seemed as though he lacked any remorse. The trial concluded on July 19 and the jury left to deliberate. At 4.50pm on July 22, it was announced that they'd come to a verdict.

The date would have been Tyler's 12th birthday if he was still alive. To Cindy, this was a positive omen. Once again, Robert Farquherson was found guilty on all counts. This time, Cindy turned to the jury and mouthed the words, Thank you. Almost three months later, Robert was sentenced to life imprisonment with a 33-year minimum. The judge told the court that in his 38 years of practicing law, this was a case that defied imagination, as the victims were three vulnerable, helpless, and wholly innocent children who had suffered a terrifying death.

Addressing Robert directly, he stated, Your crimes have devastated a significant number of people. Primary among them is your ex-wife, Cindy Gambino, the mother of these three children. Robert shook his head throughout his sentencing. When he was let out of the courtroom, Cindy began to cry. Outside, she told reporters, It's never going to be enough. It's a life sentence for me. It should be a life sentence for him.

In August 2013, Robert Farquherson lost his final appeal. In the years after her children's deaths, Cindy Gambino was on the receiving end of abuse from the public. At first, she received letters from people calling her stupid for supporting Robert. Others blamed her for having driven her ex to kill. On one occasion, a man approached her in the supermarket and asked, What did you do to him to make him do that to you? But Cindy also received strong support, encouragement and countless messages from people who empathised

with her pain. In 2010, she married Stephen Miles. The couple have two children together. The murders of Jay, Tyler and Bailey Farquherson and the subsequent legal proceedings garnered nationwide attention and were widely covered by Australia's media. In 2013, crime journalist Megan Norris published a book about the case titled On Father's Day. Norris had previously written about a number of other cases in which men murdered their children during the course of marriage breakdown.

She spent lots of time with Cindy while working on the book and tells much of the story from Cindy's perspective. The following year, author Helen Garner released her book, This House of Grief, which shares her thoughts and experiences from attending both trials. Cindy has initiated legal action to prevent Robert from being buried in the spot he purchased alongside their son's burial plot and her own grave. In an interview with the Herald's son, she explained, I'd be mortified if my boys and I had to be buried with him.

I will move the boys and myself if I have to. People go to all sorts of extremes for things they believe in. The night he murdered our boys, he lost every right to be near them. Jay, Tyler and Bailey share a large marble headstone at the Winchelsea Cemetery. It features oval portrait photographs of the three boys. On the top left-hand side is a gold logo of the Essendon Football Club, the Australian Rules Team beloved by both Jay and Tyler. On the other side is an etching of Bob the Builder from Bailey's favourite television

show. Beneath the boys' names are the words, much loved and cherished children of Robert and Cindy. In 2010, when Robert was out on bail following his first appeal, someone used a chisel or a similar tool to scratch his name off the headstone, leaving rough gouges in the marble. It isn't known who was responsible for doing this. He has resisted calls from Robert's family to have his name, Reign stated.