AUSTRALIA • Darcey FREEMAN, 4 ~ Melbourne

In one of the most shocking crimes in Australia's
recent history, Arthur Freeman pulled over his car on Melbourne's West Gate
Bridge in the morning rush hour, picked his daughter Darcey up and pitched
her over the railing.


His two sons, Ben, 6, and Jack, 2, were in the vehicle at the time.


Freeman, 37, was convicted of murdering the child on Monday, after a jury
rejected defence claims that he was mentally unsound.


Witnesses, who watched in horror as Darcey dropped "like a rag doll"
toward the Yarra River, 190 feet below, said Freeman appeared as calm as if
he was "posting a letter".


Minutes earlier, he had told Peta Barnes, his ex-wife, over the phone: "Say
goodbye to your children".



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The couple, who divorced in 2008 after seven years of marriage, had been
involved in a custody dispute.

In chilling testimony, Ben Freeman said he had asked his father to go back for
Darcey on the morning of Jan 28 2009, reminding him that she couldn't swim.

"I said go back and get her," he said in a taped interview played to
the jury. "And Dad keeps driving along. Then I said Darcey can't swim
... and then Dad would just keep on driving, didn't go back to get her."

Darcey was found shortly later by police, but died of serious injuries in
hospital.

The crime shocked Australia, with dramatic live coverage showing paramedics
trying to revive the girl on the banks of the river, and made headlines
around the world.

A jury of seven women and five men found Freeman guilty of murder after five
days of deliberations.

They had been asked decide whether Freeman was "mad or bad" when he
committed the crime.

Defence lawyers claimed he was mentally impaired but the prosecution
successfully argued he had planned the murder because he was bent on revenge
and worried that he was about to lose custody of the children.

He will be sentenced next month.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/8413581/Australian-man-who-threw-daughter-to-her-death-off-Melbourne-bridge-convicted.html

Dad gets life for 'horrible' bridge murder
Updated Mon Apr 11, 2011 1:43pm AEST
The Melbourne man who threw his four-year-old daughter off the Westgate Bridge has been sentenced to life in jail with a non-parole period of 32 years.


Darcey Freeeman


Life in prison: Arthur Freeman was found guilty of Murder last month

Arthur Freeman, 37, of Hawthorn, threw his four-year-old daughter, Darcey, off the bridge on January 29, 2009, on the way to her first day at school.

Her two brothers, aged two and six, watched as Freeman pulled his car over and threw the girl to her death.

Passing sentence, Supreme Court Justice Paul Coghlan said Freeman had committed a "horrible crime".

"This was the killing of an innocent child. The circumstances of the killing were horrible," he said.

"The throwing of your four-year-old daughter from a bridge more than 80 metres above the ground could not be more horrible.

"What Darcey's last thoughts might have been does not bear thinking about and her death must have been a painful and protracted one."

"It can only be concluded that you used your daughter in an attempt to hurt your former wife as profoundly as possible."

Freeman pleaded not guilty by reason of mental impairment, but his defence was rejected by the jury after a three-week trial.

He stood motionless today as the sentence was handed down.

Justice Coghlan said many would see Freeman's crime as so serious that he should not get a non-parole period but he had decided to sentence him to life with a minimum term of 32 years.

"Whatever happens, you will spend what may be regarded by many as the best years of your life in prison," he said.

"I do not regard you as being beyond redemption."

Freeman will not be eligible for parole until January 2041.

After the court had adjourned and the judge had left, Freeman rose in the dock and started to make a statement to the still-packed court room.

He spoke in a loud voice, but was incoherent at times, talking about threats made against him by his ex-wife's family.

He continued to speak as security guards tried to remove him from the dock.

Moments before the murder, the father-of-three had spoken to his ex-wife, Peta Barnes, telling her to say goodbye to her children, and threatening that she would never see them again.

A day earlier, Freeman had had his access to his three children reduced.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/04/11/3187780.htm