New appeal in Australian triple-drowning case rekindles doubt over father’s guilt

An Australian man serving a life sentence for the drownings of his three sons is pursuing a fresh appeal, his lawyers saying new evidence could meet a 2019 standard for addressing miscarriages of justice. Robert Farquharson, who is now 56, is imprisoned at Barwon Prison near Geelong with a minimum 33-year term before any possibility of parole.

On September 4, 2005, Father’s Day in Australia, Farquharson was driving Jai, 10, and his younger brothers Tyler, 7, and Bailey, 2, from Geelong toward their mother’s home in Winchelsea. Just after 7 p.m., the car swerved off Princes Highway, plunged down a grassy embankment, and crashed through a wire fence around a nearby 7.4-metre-deep dam. Farquharson escaped and swam to safety; the three boys did not. The tragedy unfolded on what residents describe as a quiet stretch of road near the town.

Prosecutors later alleged that Farquharson drove off the road to hurt his ex-wife, Cindy Gambino, who had left him for another man. He was convicted at a 2010 retrial after an earlier verdict was overturned on appeal. Key pieces of evidence included the car’s lights, heater and ignition being off before the crash, a witness who said the vehicle braked and veered, and a psychology report describing him as brooding and protective of his children. A taped conversation with an old friend, in which he allegedly spoke about revenge, also figured into the case, though the reliability of that account was contested in court.

Cindy Gambino, who had remarried and started a new family, testified in the later trial that she had come to believe Farquharson murdered their children. She died in 2022, at age 50, after a long illness, leaving behind a fractured family and a belief among some relatives that justice had been served. Farquharson’s sister and several friends have stood by him, saying he was a devoted father who would never harm his children. His supporters say the case remains unresolved in the public mind, and some have urged a re-examination of the evidence.

Under the terms of a 2019 legal framework, Farquharson’s lawyers say they need fresh and compelling evidence to demonstrate a substantial miscarriage of justice. They point to new scientific theories about how vehicles sink after entering deep water and to what has been described as cough syncope, a rare condition Farquharson says caused him to cough violently and briefly lose consciousness before the crash. They argue that such evidence could undermine the prosecution’s narrative of deliberate killing and justify a third look at the conviction.

The growing interest in the case has been fueled by the revived prominence of Helen Garner’s 11-year-old book, This House of Grief, which has surged to bestseller lists after endorsement by pop star Dua Lipa on the singer’s lifestyle site Service95. The work, along with the Sydney Morning Herald’s investigative podcast Trial By Water, has drawn a new generation of true-crime readers and listeners to the tragedy, though it adds no new facts to the court record.

Farquharson remains behind bars at Barwon Prison, where he is housed in a high-security unit. He has repeatedly claimed to have told the truth about the events of that night and continues to maintain his innocence in letters from prison. His case, which has long divided families and polarised opinion in the small coastal community near Geelong, could hinge on new scientific analyses and the credible presentation of fresh evidence under the 2019 law.

Experts and legal observers say the appeal, if pursued, will confront a complex evidentiary landscape: new techniques in accident reconstruction, assessments of the sinking behavior of vehicles, and the medical possibility of cough-related loss of consciousness. Even if the appellate court accepts some of the new material, it could still be difficult to overturn two prior verdicts given Australia’s high threshold for reopening cases where juries have already decided guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

For Cindy Gambino’s family, the case remains a source of deep hurt and unresolved questions. Her parents describe themselves as fighters for justice, while Farquharson’s supporters emphasize the human costs of presuming guilt and the potential for wrongful conviction. The case’s fate now rests on the compatibility of new evidence with established legal standards and the ability of Farquharson’s lawyers to persuade a higher court that the original proceedings were compromised in a meaningful way.

Whether the justice system, and the world at large, will accept Farquharson’s claim of innocence remains to be seen. As the legal process unfolds, the memories of Jai, Tyler and Bailey continue to haunt the communities involved, and the crosses by the dam serve as a quiet marker of a tragedy that continues to provoke debate about truth, punishment and the rule of law.