Michael Bachelard | The Sydney Morning Herald

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Michael Bachelard is a senior writer and former deputy editor and investigations editor of The Age. He has worked in Canberra, Melbourne and Jakarta, has written two books and won multiple awards for journalism, including the Gold Walkley.

Robert Campbell coughed and passed out. He now thinks convicted murderer Robert Farquharson is innocent

Robert Campbell coughed and passed out. He now thinks convicted murderer Robert Farquharson is innocent

Scepticism over Farquharson’s coughing and fainting story was at the centre of two prosecutions and two guilty verdicts that saw him sentenced to 33 years in prison for triple child murder.

  • by Michael Bachelard

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Trial By Water, Episode 5: The ‘golden thread’

Trial By Water, Episode 5: The ‘golden thread’

Listen now to the final episode of the hit investigative podcast about the case of Robert Farquharson.

  • by Michael Bachelard and Ruby Schwartz
‘I’m going to nail you for it’: Was Robert Farquharson’s prosecution a case of tunnel vision?

‘I’m going to nail you for it’: Was Robert Farquharson’s prosecution a case of tunnel vision?

Police need to focus their efforts, but what happens if they miss clues along the way?

  • by Michael Bachelard and Ruby Schwartz
Revenge was the motive but nobody got a psych report into Farquharson

Revenge was the motive but nobody got a psych report into Farquharson

Experts question how the prosecution could have argued convicted child-killer Robert Farquharson was driven by revenge and not sought evidence to back that up.

  • by Michael Bachelard and Ruby Schwartz
Trial By Water, Episode 4: How Robert Farquharson failed the Dad test

Trial By Water, Episode 4: How Robert Farquharson failed the Dad test

In the story of Robert Farquharson there’s one thing that’s the hardest to understand.

  • by Michael Bachelard and Ruby Schwartz
Listen to Trial By Water – Episode 3

Listen to Trial By Water – Episode 3

Listen now to the third episode of the podcast investigation on the Robert Farquharson case – and why memory evidence can be particularly fraught in murder trials.

  • by Michael Bachelard and Ruby Schwartz
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Listen to Trial By Water – Episode 2

Listen to Trial By Water – Episode 2

Listen now to the second episode of the podcast investigation on the Robert Farquharson case – and the serious questions about the science that helped convict him.

  • by Michael Bachelard and Ruby Schwartz
‘Fried noodles #23’: Witness’s new detail raises crucial question in Farquharson case

‘Fried noodles #23’: Witness’s new detail raises crucial question in Farquharson case

Dawn Waite’s evidence excited police, swayed Robert Farquharson’s ex-wife against him and was held to be crucial by the judge. But it might well have been impossible.

  • by Michael Bachelard, Ruby Schwartz and Nick McKenzie
Trial By Water, Episode 1: Father’s Day

Trial By Water, Episode 1: Father’s Day

In a new podcast investigation, we explore why a growing number of experts believe the case against convicted child killer Robert Farquharson is “fundamentally flawed”.

  • by Michael Bachelard and Ruby Schwartz
Geoffrey’s killer cough put him in jail. A phone call to his brother got him out

Geoffrey’s killer cough put him in jail. A phone call to his brother got him out

The truck driver is not sure if convicted murderer Robert Farquharson is innocent – but he can see similarities with his own unjust imprisonment.

  • by Michael Bachelard, Ruby Schwartz and Nick McKenzie
‘I want to believe he’s guilty, but I can’t’: Bryan lost his best friend when Farquharson drove into a dam

‘I want to believe he’s guilty, but I can’t’: Bryan lost his best friend when Farquharson drove into a dam

Bryan Kennedy was just seven years old when his friend Tyler died. He cannot bring himself to believe Tyler’s father, Robert Farquharson, intended to kill.

  • by Michael Bachelard and Ruby Schwartz