March 29, 2011
MELBOURNE (AFP) - An Australian man has been found guilty of killing his four-year-old daughter by throwing her off a bridge "like a rag doll" in peak hour traffic.
Arthur Freeman, 37, showed no emotion as he was convicted of murdering daughter Darcey at the Victorian Supreme Court late Monday.
Witnessed by dozens of people, the father-of-three tossed the child like "a rag doll" over the railing of Melbourne's West Gate Bridge on January 29, 2009, the court heard.
She plunged 58 metres (190 feet), sustaining massive internal injuries and ultimately drowning in a case that shocked the city.
Minutes before he killed Darcey, Freeman had telephoned his former partner Peta Barnes and told her to: "Say goodbye to your children".
He then parked on the bridge, left his two sons in the car and picked up the little girl and threw her to her death, the court heard.
Freeman then drove to the Federal Law Courts complex in Melbourne where he started sobbing uncontrollably and was arrested.
His lawyer argued that Freeman was mentally impaired at the time, but the prosecution said it was a simple case of spousal revenge after an acrimonious break-up of his seven-year marriage.
He will be sentenced at a later date.
