New legal bid for Aussie jailed mum Kathleen Folbigg

A former solicitor-general is backing the release of Kathleen Folbigg, a year after 150 scientists and science advocates called for her pardon.

The lawyers for convicted child killer Kathleen Folbigg have recruited a former Commonwealth solicitor-general in a renewed bid to push for her freedom.

The appointment of David Bennett QC comes as a third Nobel laureate on Friday co-signed a letter from the Australian Academy of Science to NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman petitioning for Folbigg’s release.

Folbigg was found guilty in 2003 of smothering all four of her children, with all appeals against her convictions so far failing.

In a letter from her prison cell and obtained by News Corp Australia, Folbigg again protested her innocence and spoke of losing her “family in heartbreaking circumstances”

“I am an innocent woman, and a mother who has lost her family under heartbreaking circumstances, still sitting in a maximum security prison after nearly 19 long and challenging years,” she wrote.

Kathleen Folbigg was found guilty in 2003 of smothering all four of her children, with all appeals against her convictions so far failing. Picture: Joel Carrett

Folbigg said she is “saddened and extremely disappointed” that Mr Speakman had still not reached a decision on a petition lodged on her behalf in March last year, which was endorsed by 150 scientists and science advocates, including Nobel prize-winners Professors Elizabeth Blackburn and Peter Doherty.

Baby Caleb Folbigg died when he was 19 days old in 1989.

Baby Sarah Folbigg died at 10-months-old in 1993.

Laura Folbigg died in March 1999.

Baby Patrick Folbigg died aged eight-months in December 1991.

The petition, strongly backed by the Australian Academy of Science, said fresh genetic evidence in the case shows Folbigg “has been wrongfully incarcerated because the justice system has failed her.”

In 2020 a team of scientists concluded that a genetic mutation known as CALM2 G114R was the likely cause of death for Folbigg’s two daughters, Sarah and Laura.

On Friday, a third Nobel laureate, ANU Vice-Chancellor Professor Brian Schmidt, co-signed a letter sent to Mr Speakman by the Academy.

“New scientific evidence explaining the deaths of her children now makes it patently clear that all four children died of natural causes, placing her innocence beyond reasonable doubt … it is time that the NSW legal system also accepts that a miscarriage of justice has occurred,” the letter states.

David Bennett QC has been recruited by Folbigg’s legal team. Picture: Kym Smith

NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman. Picture: Tim Hunter

Mr Speakman defended the time it has taken to consider the petition, and has turned down an offer by the Academy to set up a panel of genetic experts to assist him in reaching his decision.

He announced this week that it would be “inappropriate and unfair to the petitioner for the Attorney-General to consider material provided by someone other than the petitioner or their legal representative or to hold private consultations with other members of the public.”

But the Academy in its letter states: “This offer still stands and is supported by Ms Folbigg and her legal representatives.”

Folbigg’s legal team this week asked NSW State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan to hold a coronial inquest into the deaths of all four children.

“If the science behind this case helps others to not go through what our family went through, then that is priceless,” Folbigg wrote.

“It’s too late for me. I’ve lost my entire family. Equally I’ve been stripped of my liberty and vilified by the media, the legal system and society.

“I want to now help others more than myself.”

Originally published as New legal bid for Aussie jailed mum Kathleen Folbigg