It was just a normal day for Michael Piacentini as he made his way to work, taking his usual route over the Westgate Bridge.
Little did he know his life was about to change when he noticed a four-wheel drive pull over into the emergency lane.
He drove past, looking back in his rear view mirror, and watched as the male occupant got out and took one of the three children, who were in the car, over to the railing of the bridge.
“[I thought] he was taking her out to get a breath of fresh air or perhaps one of the kids needed to go to the toilet or something like that,” he tells Insight.
Michael will never forget what we saw on the Westgate Bridge. Photo: Insight Source: Insight
In seconds everything changed when Michael watched in horror as the man threw the young girl over the bridge, into the water 58 metres below.
“I doubted what I saw, I thought did I actually see what I just saw?” he says.
What Michael observed was 37-year-old Arthur Freeman deliberately throw his four-year-old daughter, Darcey, over the bridge. A coronial inquest heard Arthur killed Darcey after he lost custody of his children.
But Michael knew none of this at the time and was just trying to make sense of what he saw while also trying to remember as much detail as possible for the police.
“You know, for me to think that … a monster could throw his own child off the top of the Westgate Bridge, it just, it doesn't compute and you really doubt yourself,” he tells Jenny Brockie.
“I guess life just changed for me, it was a real eye opener so I basically learned that, yeah, evil does exist.”
Fortunately Michael, who worked in security at the time, put his training to use and after calling the police he immediately started writing down notes of what he saw. He also instructed other witnesses, who had gathered at a nearby service station, to do the same.
Michael, who had to testify at court, remembers how he felt when recalling the events of that day – the same feelings he still experiences now, years on.
“The anxiety, the heart racing, the palpitations, it all just comes back when you recount what you saw,” he says.
“I guess life just changed for me, it was a real eye opener so I basically learned that, yeah, evil does exist.”
