Australian Man Charged with 4-Year-Old Daught
A man pulled over on a highway bridge, took his 4-year-old daughter out of the car and dropped her over the side to her death Thursday in Australia's second-largest city, police said.
Arthur Freeman, 36, of Melbourne was later charged with the murder of 4-year-old Darcey Iris Freeman. But he did not appear in court because police said he was psychologically unfit to do so. A magistrate ordered him to be held in custody while an investigation continues. He faces a maximum life sentence if convicted.
Police did not allege a motive.
Police and court officials said the man was involved in custody battle with his wife over the couple's three children, and had appeared in a family court on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The two other children, boys aged 6 and 8, may have been in Freeman's SUV when he allegedly pulled over on the West Gate Bridge in morning peak-hour traffic and dropped the girl 190 feet (58 meters) into the Yarra River, said Detective Inspector Steve Clark.
Stunned witnesses called police, who were able to pull her from the river within 10 minutes of receiving the alert. She was barely alive, with multiple internal injuries, Clark said. She was flown by helicopter to Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital, which said she died about four hours after the fall.
"It's a dreadful set of circumstances," Clark told reporters. "Often you think you've seen it all but you haven't."
About an hour later, Freeman was arrested with the two surviving children outside the family court, where witnesses described him as visibly distressed, Clark said.
Clark said the children's mother had been informed but did not give details.
The names of the victim and suspect were cited in court, but authorities have not released names of other members of the family.
Police originally did not identify either the suspect or victim as is common in Australia with cases involving children, but their names were cited later in court.
The alleged murder happened about 9 a.m. on the bridge, an eight-lane freeway that is the main trunk road from downtown Melbourne to the west.(AP)
A serial killer once confess to the killing of five men and five woman, his prefer method of execution was to cast a mold of cement and chain them to the victims waist and then drop them 1800 leagues under the ocean.
It was a quick and painless death according to the killers statement. No bodies were recovered. Yet, there was 10 people reported as missing. All the missing people had past criminal records of drug pushers, prostitution and homosexuals'.
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Since, no one could prove those crimes. He was released. Three days later after his release, they found his body electrocuted in a homemade electric chair. The forensic report indicated that his death took about 2 hours of continuous electrical shock. He was tortured very slowly.
Words just can't describe what would make someone kill their own child
he should be thrown in to the very same bridge that he threw his little girl in...
Got to go with flan.. Its amazing how many parents use children as "scapegoats" to gain revenge on each other.
Whether psychologically able or not, he needs to be put away for life..
it never ceases to amaze me how farked up and cruel parents can be.
they should just commit suicide themselves and at least give their children the right to live.
I read it too in Daily Mail..very sad end for the her.
RIP little girl
i was reading the same article at yahoo news just now and it just made me go :/...saddening how heartless some parents become...