Father throws 4-year-old daughter from bridge

Thursday, January 29, 2009

A 35-year-old man had been charged with murdering his daughter after allegedly throwing her from the West Gate Bridge in Melbourne, Australia.

The man, named as IT consultant Arthur Phillip Freeman, was arrested following an incident at 0910AEST (2210 UTC) where Darcey Iris Freeman, 4, fell 60m into a river. She was rescued from the water but had suffered severe injuries and died later in the city's Royal Children's Hospital.

Two other children were in the car at the time of the incident. They are believed also to be the children of Arthur Freeman. Freeman and his wife, Peta, split in 2007.

Shortly after the incident, Freeman was spotted in the Commonwealth Law Courts in William Street with the two other children. He appeared to be in a distressed or confused state. He was arrested immediately and his case brought to Melbourne Magistrates' Court this afternoon.

The police say that Freeman is in an acute psychiatric state and cannot be questioned.

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Sources

"Australian 'throws girl to death'" — BBC News online, January 29, 2009
"Man accused of throwing daughter off West Gate Bridge" — The Herald Sun, January 29, 2009
Milanda Rout. "Father unfit to face charge of killing daughter at West Gate Bridge" — The Australian, January 29, 2009

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Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.