Robert Farquharson was born in 1969 in Australia. He met Cindy Gambino in February 1990, and the couple began a relationship that led to the birth of their first son, Jai, in October 1994. In 1996, Farquharson took a redundancy package from his employer and invested in a lawn-mowing franchise, which resulted in a financial loss of approximately AUD 40,000. The couple married in 2000 and had two more sons: Tyler in 1998 and Bailey in 2002.

The marriage ended amicably in 2004. Following the separation, Farquharson experienced bouts of depression and was diagnosed with avoidant personality disorder. He sought psychological assistance and was prescribed antidepressants, including sertraline and later mirtazapine.

On September 4, 2005, Father's Day in Australia, Farquharson was returning his three sons to their mother after an access visit. While driving along the Princes Highway near Winchelsea, Victoria, his vehicle veered off the road, crashed through a fence, and submerged in a farm dam. Farquharson escaped the sinking car and alerted a passerby, but his sons—Jai (10), Tyler (7), and Bailey (2)—drowned.

Farquharson claimed he had blacked out due to a coughing fit, a condition known as cough syncope. However, the prosecution argued that he deliberately drove into the dam to exact revenge on his ex-wife. A key witness, Greg King, testified that Farquharson had previously expressed intentions to harm his children to hurt his ex-wife.

In October 2007, Farquharson was convicted of three counts of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. The conviction was overturned in December 2009 due to concerns about the reliability of King's testimony. A retrial in July 2010 resulted in a second conviction, and Farquharson was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 33 years.

As of 2024, Farquharson is preparing a fresh appeal under new Victorian laws that allow for retrials if fresh and compelling evidence suggests a miscarriage of justice. His supporters, including respiratory specialist Dr. Chris Steinfort, argue that the original trials failed to adequately consider the possibility of cough syncope as the cause of the crash.