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

For Carmen Ross, unlike for most of us, Robert Farquharson’s conviction and punishment is not safely in the past. It’s very much in her life. She talks to her brother on the phone two or three times a week. And she visits him in Barwon prison once a month.

For Farquharson’s appeal to succeed, he’ll have to change the minds of people within the legal system. It’s the same system that’s already twice decided Farquharson deserves to spend 33 years behind bars. To get a different decision now will be a huge task.

Listen now to the final episode of Trial By Water in the player below.

New legislation allows Farquharson and his legal team to try to launch another appeal. To get there, he has to present new evidence to the Court of Appeal. And if they agree it’s fresh and compelling, and that there might have been a substantial injustice, then they’ll listen to your argument.

But it’s hard. For example, to count as fresh, the new evidence can’t have been put at your first trial. Makes sense. But it also means it can’t even have been available back then. So, if your lawyer could have argued it but didn’t, it’s still not counted as fresh.

In the final episode of Trial By Water, you’ll also hear again from Kate Lahey and Katie Bice, our two colleagues from The Age. We spoke to them at the very beginning of the series about their misgivings with the investigation. Have new interpretations of the science that helped to convict Farquharson twice changed their minds about his guilt?

If you’re new to this podcast series, catch up on Episodes 1-4 below.