“There are reasonable doubts about the guilt of [Kathleen] Folbigg, who justifies each of these beliefs [por três crimes de homicídio e um crime de homicídio involuntário] “Annulment and acquittal,” reads the summary of the judgment released by the New South Wales State Court of Appeal.
The 56yearold Australian's case was reopened in 2021 after an investigation coordinated by a Spanish scientist linked the deaths to genetic defects.
Kathleen Folbigg was sentenced in 2003 to 40 years in prison, reduced to 30 years in 2005, for the deaths of her children Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura between 1989 and 1999, when they were between 19 days and 18 months old.
“I hoped and prayed that one day I could be here with a clean name,” Folbigg said in Sydney after learning of the ruling from New South Wales' highest appeal court.
“The system chose to blame me rather than accept that children can and do sometimes die in sudden, unexpected and heartbreaking ways,” lamented Folbigg, who has been dubbed “Australia’s worst serial killer.”
The current decision is based on the conclusions of a review of the case by former judge Tom Bathurst, who concluded that there was “reasonable doubt” about Folbigg's guilt, prompting the state's governor, Margaret Beazley, to pardon the woman to be signed last June.
Following the pardon, Folbigg was released while Bathurst referred the case to the Court of Appeal to overturn the convictions or order a new trial.
In its ruling, the Court of Appeal agreed with Bathurst on the new scientific evidence and concluded that Folbigg's diary entries used to incriminate her were not “reliable admissions of guilt.”
In a response to the press, Folbigg expressed gratitude that genetics and scientific advances had provided answers to her children's deaths, but regretted that the defense had “legal answers to prove” innocence in 1999 and that they were “ignored and ignored “were rejected.”
“The suffering of an innocent woman can and should be recognized and be an important impetus for improving our justice system,” said lawyer Rhanee Rego, emphasizing that she will seek significant compensation for Folbigg.
The case was reopened after around 100 scientists, including two Nobel Prize winners, sent a letter to Australian authorities in 2021 asking for a pardon and immediate release of Folbigg.
The request was triggered by the 2020 conclusions of a team of scientists coordinated by the Spanish immunologist Carola García de Vinuesa and led by the Dane Michael Toft Overgaard, which suggested that the deaths of the Folbigg babies could have genetic causes.
Additionally, the study, conducted by an international team of 27 scientists, found that the children carried rare variants of a gene that kills rodents through epileptic seizures.
“This is very good news and a warning that the justice system needs to listen more to science and appreciate the contribution of genomic medicine to understanding the cause of sudden death and rare diseases before blaming mothers,” he said by email sent to the EFE news agency.
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