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May 24th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda AAP
A Victorian driver’s “coughing fit” moments before he veered off a road and killed his three children is strong evidence of manslaughter, not murder, his appeal has heard.
Robert Farquharson is appealing against his conviction for the murder of his sons Jai, 10, Tyler, seven, and Bailey, two, when he drove his car into a dam near Winchelsea in the state’s southwest on Father’s Day 2005.
His lawyer argued before the Victorian Court of Appeal on Thursday that the prosecution should have put the theory of killing the boys through negligence rather than intentionally as an option for jurors to consider in reaching a verdict.
Peter Morrissey SC said Farquharson had been a significant risk to his passengers and anyone else on the road because of a respiratory infection that caused “debilitating coughing” and dizziness, including one incident of coughing that briefly impaired consciousness.
“If he had that coughing fit on the highway then he was going to kill someone,” Mr Morrissey told the court.
“He knew he shouldn’t be driving.”
But the crown argued that the jury must have already excluded the coughing fit as a reasonable hypothesis when it reached the verdict on three counts of murder.
Prosecutor Douglas Trapnell SC said Farquharson did not drive against doctor’s orders, he was not on any medication that affected his ability to drive, and he had no prior driving incidents that would have shown his coughing meant he was at risk behind the wheel.
“There is no viable case of manslaughter,” he told the court.
Mr Trapnell acknowledged it was still a circumstantial case against Farquharson but said the basic uncontested threads were “still strong enough to support the verdict”.
Farquharson was first convicted of murdering his sons in 2007 and sentenced to life without parole, but won an appeal and was granted a retrial.
After a second trial in 2010 he was sentenced to life in jail with a minimum term of 33 years.
On Thursday, the Court of Appeal reserved its decision for a later date after hearing both arguments.
Farquharson sat quietly, occasionally taking sips of water, during the day-long hearing.
Lawyers on both sides are being given until Wednesday to make any final written submissions.
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