A Australia has officially overturned this Thursday the 14th the conviction of a woman who spent two decades in prison after she was wrongly accused of murdering her four children. Kathleen Folbigg's lawyers called for legal reform in the country and “significant” compensation for their client.
Folbigg was pardoned and released in June on the recommendation of Judge Tom Bathurst, who reexamined all the evidence presented at her trial and found “reasonable doubt” about her guilt. But clearing her name required a formal decision from the New South Wales Court of Appeal. A panel of judges ultimately agreed that she should be acquitted of all charges, one of the country's most highprofile miscarriages of justice.
She thanked the people who have worked tirelessly to convince the government and legal system that new scientific evidence warrants closer investigation of the case.
“The time it took to see today’s result cost a lot of people,” Folbigg said along with his lawyers and closest friends. “I hoped and prayed that one day I could be here without my name being cleared.”
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How the wrongful conviction came about
Folbigg was arrested in 2003 on three counts of murder and one count of manslaughter after her four babies died in just a decade since 1989. Although there was no physical evidence against them, the jury was convinced that the likelihood that all four had died of natural causes was unlikely, leading to the emergence of the murder theory. Certain passages from his diary were also interpreted as confessions of guilt at the time.
Folbigg's first baby, Caleb, died in 1989, followed by Patrick in 1991, Sarah in 1993 and finally Laura in 1999. The first three deaths were originally attributed to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), the term used for babies under one year old Old people die for no apparent reason.
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However, police began investigating the case after a forensic pathologist classified the cause of death of Laura, Folbigg's eldest daughter aged 18 months, as “undetermined”. She was tried and convicted, and local newspaper headlines labeled her “Australia’s worst serial killer.”
In 2019, an investigation into her convictions concluded that there was “no reasonable doubt” that she committed the crimes. However, further investigation began in 2022 after scientists discovered a previously unknown mutated gene in her two daughters that could have been fatal.
The evidence provided a genetic explanation for the children's deaths that raised “reasonable doubt” about their guilt and was enough to convince a judge to recommend their pardon.
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The absolution
Folbigg was imprisoned for decades based on a British maxim called “Meadow's Law.” British pediatrician Roy Meadow, author of the theory, said that a sudden death of a child in a family is a tragedy, two are suspicious, but three are clearly murder.
This Thursday, Chief Justice Andrew Bell said the appeal judges agreed that “a large and extensive body of new scientific evidence” outweighed the evidence at their trial. They also found that her diaries, when viewed in full context and supported by new psychological and psychiatric information from experts, were “not reliable admissions of guilt.”
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Folbigg's attorney, Rhanee Rego, said Folbigg's legal team would seek damages, which she said would be “significant.”
“I'm not prepared to put a specific number on it, but it will be higher than any major payment that has been made to date,” she said.
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Legal reform in Australia
Lawyers are also pushing for all Australian states to establish an independent review body, such as a Criminal Cases Review Commission, to prevent future miscarriages of justice.
“The suffering of an innocent woman must be recognized and be a great impetus for improving our justice system,” Rego said.