Is the little girl the only victim??

Mathew Charles drove across the bridge moments after the incident and saw the reaction of witnesses. The tears were flowing on the West Gate Bridge and I didn't know why.

Parked in the left lane in the searing heat was a blue station wagon, a woman in the passenger seat weeping. Her office-worker partner peered over the edge of the giant bridge that was built on tragedy, staring at the brown river below. I didn't know it at the time but the couple may have been witnesses of an unfolding calamity that would provoke many more tears.

A child had gone over the edge into the waters below and was now the focus of frantic attempts to save her as police hunted for the person who could have been responsible. But at this point I didn't know any of this or why a car should be parked at the top of the bridge. Because all that my wife - heavily pregnant with our first child - and I saw as we crawled our way up the bridge was the woman's partner, an ordinary looking man standing outside his ordinary looking car. With one arm raised to cover his eyes from the sun, he gripped the rail, peering this way and squinting that way, as if he had just accidentally dropped something into the waters below but he didn't know where.

As other drivers made their way past the car, I glanced in the rear view mirror and saw the woman sitting in the car's front seat. Confused as to what it was we had seen we phoned the police. A short time later, as I settled into my day, the phone rang. It was my wife. Upset.

As she was returning back over the bridge early reports came over the radio that a man had driven to the very top of the bridge and thrown a child to her death. Despite the heat I felt chilled.

Read more about this tragedy here...

My Two Cents: This is what I thought when I heard about the tragedy on the radio... What?? Why?? How?? What scumbag would do that to his own?? Then, on second thought, what emotion is the father actually going through to do that to his own child? The following day, after reading the article on the newspaper, I couldnt help but to have some sympathy on the father. I mean, if what the newspaper said are true, the dad loves and adores his family, then imagine what the dad actually have to deal with to make him do such a thing. Wouldnt deciding on throwing his daughter off the bridge be equal as taking his own life? Maybe he already planned on taking his own life. I'm not saying what he did was justifiable, far from it. What I'm trying to say is, everyone seems to be saying, poor child, but I do think that the father is considered a victim too, in some ways at least. Also, those who actually work on the case, those who saw what happened. These people are all victims. Its hard not to have nightmares after witnessing this tragedy. I myself got a bit emotional reading it on the newspaper. I hope those who are involved manage to cope with this.