Trial by Water

3.5 (607)
TRUE CRIME
WEEKLY SERIES

Trial by Water is an investigative podcast series about Robert Farquharson, who has been locked up for decades for an unthinkable crime: murdering his three sons in a dam on Father’s Day, 2005. Now scientists and lawyers are asking the question: did we get it wrong? And is this man in prison for a crime he didn’t commit?

EPISODE 1

Trial By Water, Episode 1: Father's Day

On Father’s Day, 2005, Robert Farquharson crashed his car into a dam. He survived, but his three children who were in the car with him didn’t. At first it seemed like a tragic accident. But quickly, it turned into a murder investigation. For exclusive content and additional reporting on the case, available to subscribers of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, visit theage.com.au/podcast/trialbywater or smh.com.au/podcast/trialbywater. Subscribe now to access the special Good Weekend investigation, which features never-before-seen 3D models recreating key scientific evidence, video, audio and other interviews. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

56 min
EPISODE 2

Episode 2: Strands of the Rope

A day after Robert Farquharson drove his car into the dam with his three sons, the homicide squad took over the investigation. Sceptical of his story and suspecting Farquharson's motive was revenge, they began delving into every aspect of his account. Had he really coughed and passed out? Or would the evidence show he deliberately steered off the road and into the dam to murder his children? For exclusive content and additional reporting on the case, available to subscribers of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, visit theage.com.au/trialbywater or smh.com.au/trialbywater. Subscribe now to access the special Good Weekend investigation, which features never-before-seen 3D models recreating key scientific evidence, video, audio and other interviews. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

59 min
EPISODE 3

Episode 3: Bad Memories

There were two key witnesses in the Robert Farquharson case. The first was Greg King, an old friend of Farquharson, and the story he told provided police with something they desperately wanted for their case - a motive for murder. The other witness, Dawn Waite, came forward four years after the crash. She said she had actually seen Robert Farquharson on the night of the crash, as he was sizing up his exit from the road. But how reliable are they? And how much can we trust our memories? For exclusive content and additional reporting on the case, available to subscribers of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, visit theage.com.au/trialbywater or smh.com.au/trialbywater. Subscribe now to access the special Good Weekend investigation, which features never-before-seen 3D models recreating key scientific evidence, video, audio and other interviews. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

57 min
EPISODE 4

Episode 4: The Dad Test

In the story of Robert Farquharson, there's one thing that’s hardest to understand: his behaviour in the minutes and hours after the crash. Because on that night, his actions seemed so far outside normal behaviour for a father that the police, the media and the general public all came to the conclusion that he must have murdered his three sons. But is that true? Or is there some other explanation for his unsettling behaviour that night? For exclusive content and additional reporting on the case, available to subscribers of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, visit theage.com.au/trialbywater or smh.com.au/trialbywater. Subscribe now to access the special Good Weekend investigation, which features never-before-seen 3D models recreating key scientific evidence, video, audio and other interviews. The original version of this episode included a re-enactment of parts of Robert Farquharson's formal police interview. We decided to do the re-enactment because of a legal threat from Victoria Police that we would be in breach of a 2009 law, and potentially liable for imprisonment, if we included the audio of the original interview. But since then we’ve clarified that parliament never intended the law to apply to old recordings, so we’ve replaced that re-enactment with the actual interview of Robert Farquharson. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

58 min
EPISODE 5

Episode 5: The Golden Thread

As lawyer Luke McMahon prepares a new fight for Robert Farquharson’s release, we discover something new: that Farquharson and his ex-wife believed that police investigators were trying to pin the crime on him just days after the crash. So would it be a problem if the system had a strong impression, right from the start, that Farquharson was guilty? For exclusive content and additional reporting on the case, available to subscribers of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, visit theage.com.au/trialbywater or smh.com.au/trialbywater. Subscribe now to access the special Good Weekend investigation, which features never-before-seen 3D models recreating key scientific evidence, video, audio and other interviews. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

56 min
EPISODE 6

Bonus Episode: Your questions answered

Since releasing the Trial by Water podcast, we’ve been contacted by a lot of people. Some have wanted to ask questions, some to give feedback – positive and negative – and others to tell their stories. The evidence in this case is so broad-ranging that we couldn’t touch on everything in the series itself. But there are themes to the questions and comments, so in this bonus episode, Trial by Water host Michael Bachelard sits down with the show's executive producer, Ruby Schwartz, to talk through some of those questions. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

41 min
EPISODE 8

Bonus Episode: Farquharson Inside

Robert Farquharson has now spent nearly two decades in prison for murdering his three sons. We've made multiple requests to Corrections Victoria to interview Farquharson, but each request has been turned down. So today, we turn to two of his longest-standing supporters, who speak to and visit Farquharson regularly, to understand what his life is like on the inside. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

27 min

See All Season 1 (7)

TRAILER

Introducing: Trial by Water

From The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, Trial by Water is a new investigative podcast series about Robert Farquharson, who has been locked up for decades for an unthinkable crime: murdering his three sons in a dam on Father’s Day, 2005. Now scientists and lawyers are asking the question: did we get it wrong? And is this man in prison for a crime he didn’t commit? Episode 1 will arrive on Saturday, June 1. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

26/05/2024

•

4 min

Michael Bachelard

Host

3.5

out of 5

607 Ratings

interesting retake

5 May

me1975nik

a solid look from a different vantage point… i think that the journalist reaches too far to indicate a lack of guilt. my sense, after reading helen garner’s book, court transcripts, and media is that he’s guilty… but it certainly raises elements that could/should’ve been used in the second trial. a really, really sad story.
He’s innocent

7 Aug

XtofOz

For me this is clear as day. The man is innocent and wrongfully convicted. What makes me believe that he’s innocent is what makes others believe he’s guilty. If this had been planned, he wouldn’t have reacted the way he did, he would have pretended that he cared for these kids, pretended that he didn’t kill them … he’s not pretending anything, just being himself. Yes he didn’t act heroically to save the kids but life is not a movie, we don’t know how anyone would react in these tragic circumstances. If he was still with the mother at the time - it wouldn’t have been seen as a crime but just an accident. I hope the appeal is successful. He should not be jailed. Great podcast!
Terrible

20 July

Letsplayiphone!!!!!

Sensationalist “journalism”. Stating cough syncope is real does not mean he is innocent. F states his son opened the door and he was able to shut it. But the car didn’t sink then, only when F opened the door. This was not addressed once. Oh and his friend must have lied. Not worth the time listening to the rest.
Intriguing

26 June

HeidiWicko

Thoroughly enjoyed this podcast - thanks to all those who worked on it!

Trial by Water is an investigative podcast series about Robert Farquharson, who has been locked up for decades for an unthinkable crime: murdering his three sons in a dam on Father’s Day, 2005. Now scientists and lawyers are asking the question: did we get it wrong? And is this man in prison for a crime he didn’t commit?