A note warning of a "big fight" has been found in the home of the man who allegedly threw his daughter off Melbourne's West Gate Bridge.
The Herald Sun claims a search of Arthur Freeman's house in the hours after his arrest uncovered a note left on top of his TV warning him to "keep a clear head".
Another part of the partly-legible note warns "you have a big fight on your hands and by no stretch of the imagination will it be easy", according to reports.
Freeman was expected to appear in the Melbourne Magistrate's Court yesterday for a filing hearing but the court heard he was unfit to be interviewed by police as he was in an acute psychiatric state and there are concerns he may harm himself.
He's due to next appear in court on May 21 for a committal mention.
Four-year-old Darcey Iris Freeman died after her father allegedly took her out of the family car and threw her 58 metres off Melbourne's West Gate bridge in front of her two brothers.
She miraculously survived the plunge into the Yarra river, but died from her terrible injuries in the Royal Children's Hospital several hours later.
Horrified witnesses on the busy gateway called triple zero around 9.10am (AEDT) on Thursday, and water police took just 10 minutes to reach Darcey and pull her from the water near the pumping station at Spotswood, not far from the bridge.
Paramedics then worked frantically for 50 minutes to stabilise her, before she was flown by helicopter to the hospital where doctors tried to perform a miracle. But Darcey was pronounced dead at 1.35pm.
Detective Inspector Steve Clark, from the Victoria Police homicide squad, told reporters it appeared no witnesses had an opportunity to intervene during the incident.
"It's all happened fairly quickly, as I understand it, nobody had the opportunity," Det Insp Clark said.
"He's got straight out of the car, taken the young girl and walked to the edge of the bridge."
The incident shocked police and paramedics called to the scene.
"This is a dreadful set of circumstances and often you think you've seen it all, but you haven't," Det Insp Clark said.
Her father, 35-year-old Freeman, was arrested about 10.30am after he was spotted with the two other children walking around the Commonwealth Law Courts in central Melbourne "visibly distressed," with the Landcruiser parked outside.
Police took him into custody peacefully. As he was being led away, he reportedly begged court staff to "take care of my kids".
"He was pretty down and he had the two other children with him and he tried to enter the court. He couldn't talk to anyone, he wouldn't talk to anyone, he was just a mess," witness Vince Mascia told the Nine Network.
"They realised something was wrong and called the police."
Freeman, of Hawthorn, was charged with Darcey's murder, but did not appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court for a filing hearing later because he was deemed suicidal and unfit to be interviewed by police.
He has been remanded in custody and will next appear in court on May 21 for a committal mention.
Det Insp Clark said the incident was "particularly distressing" for family members and witnesses.
Premier John Brumby described the incident as "a terrible tragedy".
"It's such an awful ... horrible thing to happen to the child," he told reporters.
But Mr Brumby said it was far too early to think about bringing forward efforts to upgrade security on the bridge.
"So to be honest, people probably aren't thinking about those things, they're just thinking - they're feeling for the family and how this could have occurred," he said.
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