The June 1 Edition

When it comes to multiple child deaths, we humans find it difficult not to suspect mal-intent. We saw it in Tim Elliott’s recent story about Kathleen Folbigg, who served 20 years in jail for the death of her four infant children before her convictions were quashed last year. And we see it again in today’s cover story by Michael Bachelard, Nick McKenzie and Ruby Schwartz, which revisits the case of Robert Farquharson, who drove his car into a Victorian dam on Father’s Day, 2005, with his three boys inside. Farquharson is currently serving a 33-year sentence for their murders. As trauma psychologist Rob Gordon notes, with this kind of case, the accused “have no alternative but to prove their innocence” – because thinking such deaths are the result of sheer bad luck is beyond pretty much all of us. Should it be beyond a court of law, though? That’s one of the concerns raised by a growing band of scientists, who question the soundness of the Farquharson convictions. The investigation continues tomorrow night on Nine’s 60 Minutes, and on a new The Age/The Sydney Morning Herald podcast, Trial By Water. – Editor, Katrina Strickland.