‘Just Say Goodbye’ (January 2013 online edition)

‘Just Say Goodbye’described him as a man who ‘went from anger and vengefulness to remorseand back again’ (Anderson 2009a). At trial she said her ex-husband had moodswings and anger management issues during their relationship (Carlyon &Anderson 2011). Peta expressed her concerns to a doctor soon after she left herhusband. ‘I spoke to him about my fears of Arthur and what he could do to hurtthe children’ (Anderson 2009b). She told him she believed he would kill them.In her police statement, Peta said there was an incident some time after sheleft the relationship in which she feared Arthur would harm their baby. She saidhe told her he wanted to see her to talk but he ‘just wanted to berate me for allof the things that I had done wrong’ (Anderson 2009b). She said that as sheand her mother went to leave, Arthur grabbed the baby from her. ‘I thought hewas going to throw him against the fireplace and kill him’ (Carlyon & Anderson2011). The police were called. After the trial the Herald Sun reported that inNovember 2008 Freeman told a relative that his ex-wife would ‘regret it’ if helost ‘custody’ (Carlyon & Anderson 2011).Arthur Freeman’s defence counsel claimed that he was mentally impaired atthe time he killed his daughter. Witnesses described him to police as depressed,paranoid and obsessive in the months before the incident (Carlyon & Anderson2011). Six psychiatrists assessed him after the incident (Carlyon & Anderson2011). They agreed he was experiencing some form of depression in the lead upto the incident. However, there was a difference of opinion about the extent ofhis depression and its impact on his actions. One psychiatrist was of the opinionthat he was mentally impaired at the time, to the extent that he did not knowwhat he was doing was wrong. The remaining psychiatrists did not think he wasmentally impaired to that extent. 88In sentencing Arthur Freeman, Justice Coghlan said, ‘any motive whichexisted for the killing had nothing to do with the innocent victim. It can onlybe concluded that you used your daughter in an attempt to hurt your formerwife as profoundly as possible’. 89Justice Coghlan also said, ‘I accept that your offending was not premeditated,but related to your increasing anger towards your former wife over the FamilyCourt proceedings, exacerbated by your being late for Darcey’s first day atschool … I have no doubt that the resentment you bore your wife had beenbuilding up for some time’. 90In the case of both Arthur Freeman and Robert Farquharson, there isindication that the men expressed anger and an intention to punish theirex-partner. In the following case, the perpetrator directly expressed his angerand desire to punish his ex-partner in a suicide note.88 R v Freeman [2011] VSC 139 (para 43).89 R v Freeman [2011] VSC 139 (para 43).90 R v Freeman [2011] VSC 139 (para 50).55