Attorney-General pardons Kathleen Folbigg after she spent 20 years in jail over deaths of children
Kathleen Folbigg has walked free from prison 20 years, two weeks and one day after being found guilty of the deaths of her four children in a landmark decision.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Kathleen Folbigg has walked free from prison 20 years, two weeks and one day after being found guilty of the deaths of her four children in a landmark decision.
NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley on Monday unconditionally pardoned Ms Folbigg, who in 2003 was jailed for a minimum of 25 years over the murder of her three children Patrick, Sarah and Laura and the manslaughter of a fourth, Caleb.
Mr Daley told a packed media room at NSW Parliament the preliminary findings of a special inquiry shared with him over the weekend had established “exceptional circumstances … that weigh heavily in favour” of pardoning the woman once described as Australia’s worst serial killer.
Key points shared by former NSW chief justice Tom Bathurst KC, who has presided over the inquiry, were that there was “a reasonable possibility that three of the children died of natural causes”, while it was possible Sarah and Laura Folbigg had died from a rare genetic mutation.
Mr Bathurst’s notes added there was no physical evidence the children were smothered and that he was “unable to accept … the proposition that Ms Folbigg was anything but a caring mother for her children”.
Mr Daley said the decision showed justice can be done “even if it takes a long time”.
“This has been a terrible ordeal for everyone concerned and I hope that our actions today can put some closure on this 20 year old matter,” he said, adding his thoughts were also with her former husband Craig on a “tough day for him”.
“(There are) four little bubbas who are dead, we have a husband and wife who have lost each other, a woman who spent 20 years in jail and a family that never had a chance. You’d not be human if you didn’t feel something about that,” he said.
Mr Daley said Ms Folbigg could have a case for compensation for her two decades in prison if Mr Bathurst recommended in his final findings the matter be referred to the Court of Criminal Appeal, where her convictions could be quashed.
“If that was to happen, it would be open to Ms Folbigg to initiate civil proceedings against the state of New South Wales for compensation,” he said.
The lengths the NSW Government went to keep Ms Folbigg’s pending release under wraps were also revealed, with Mr Daley saying she had been quietly informed along with the Minister and commissioner for corrections hours before her release to ensure she had support around her.
Images after her release from Clarence Correctional Centre on the NSW North Coast on Monday morning show her embracing with long time friend and supporter Tracy Chapman, who has a room at her Coffs Harbour farm Ms Folbigg will move into.
After settling in, Ms Folbigg will tell her story exclusively to Seven in a deal worth more than $400,000.
While she was once branded Australia’s worst serial killer, the decision to release her has resulted in the story shifting to what could be one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in the country’s history.
Former 2GB host Alan Jones joined critics of the time it took for Folbigg to be pardoned, decrying how it took 20 years for her to be released.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been angrier, I have argued for (Folbigg’s release for) 20 years in detail and been vilified for it,” Jones, who seemed close to tears, said on TNT Radio.
“Top scientists, medical practitioners and science advocates calling on the governor to pardon Kathleen… and no one did anything.”
“It’s a dreadful, disgusting story about a criminal justice system that isn’t worth two bob.” Greens MP Sue Higginson, who last week moved a motion urging the government to pardon or parole Ms Folbigg, said the matter was the equivalent of the “second Lindy Chamberlain case”.
An emotional Peter Yates, part of Ms Folbigg’s supporter group, paid tribute to Ms Chapman, “an incredible woman”.
“You don’t realise what it was like 10 years ago, or the first inquiry (when) Tracy was slammed every day. Today she’s a hero. And she should be enjoying that moment,” he said.
He added “hope” had kept Ms Folbigg afloat in recent weeks as the result of the final inquiry hovered.
“We are just so delighted for Kathleen, a poor, innocent woman who spent 20 years of her life being incarcerated for … something that she never did,” he said.
“Anger is a virtue (which is) probably not that useful … That anger is not going to bring back 20 years of being incarcerated, five years which were predominantly in solitary confinement … hope is a better virtue.”
MUM’S CRY IS HEARD
Kathleen Folbigg’s animal cry of anguish when she was found guilty by a jury of killing her four children shook everyone in the Supreme Court of NSW.
Twenty years later her repeated plea of innocence was finally heard and she has been pardoned by Attorney General Michael Daley and released from prison.
Folbigg, 55, spent her first night outside of a prison cell five years sooner than her sentence would have allowed thanks to a scientific breakthrough that overturned years of appeals and inquiries.
As recently as 2019 a judicial inquiry upheld the original guilty finding for the murder of her children Sarah, Laura and Patrick and the manslaughter of her first child Caleb.
Former Chief Judge of the NSW District Court Reginald Blanch said he did not have “any reasonable doubt” as to her guilt.
Folbigg had told the inquiry she believed “some supernatural power” took the lives of all four of her children.
Two scientists, Professor Carola Vinuesa and Dr Todor Arsov, were ignoring the supernatural and looking to science to explain the deaths of the children.
They told a second judicial inquiry this year headed by Former NSW chief justice Tom Bathurst, KC, that a genetic mutation Folbigg shared with her two daughters could cause irregular heart rhythms and unexpected death. The genetic mutation was not shared by the two boys.
Sophie Callan, SC, counsel assisting the inquiry, said there was a “strong causal connection” between the CALM2 genetic variation and Laura and Sarah’s deaths.
In turn that meant “on the whole of the body of evidence before this inquiry there is a reasonable doubt as to Ms Folbigg’s guilt”.
Not all the experts were in agreement. Cardiologist and geneticist, Prof Calum MacCrae, said it was “probabilistically unlikely” that it could have caused the death of the two girls and that “a completely unrelated phenomenon” killed the two boys.
Folbigg told the first judicial inquiry that she had dumped three diaries that covered the crucial years her children died. Entries from the remaining diaries played a pivotal role in her original conviction.
In one entry about Laura, Folbigg wrote: “I feel like the worst mother on this Earth. Scared she’ll leave me now like Sarah did. I knew I was short-tempered and cruel sometimes to her, and she left. With a bit of help”.
And about Laura in 1997 she wrote: “She’s a fairly good natured baby, thank goodness, it will save her from the fate of her siblings. I think she was warned.”
The judicial inquiry heard from a string of psychiatrists who said the diaries should not have been interpreted as an expression of guilt.
Forensic psychologist Patrick Sheehan said: “The statement of personal responsibility (in the diaries) … was more in keeping with a troubled person attempting to cope with and make sense of the death of the children.”
Attorney General Michael Daley, outlining Mr Bathurst’s memorandum explaining his findings, on Monday explained the new take on the diaries.
“In relation to Ms Folbigg‘s diary entries, evidence suggests they were the writings of a grieving and possibly depressed mother, blaming herself for the death of each child, as distinct from admissions that she murdered or otherwise harmed them,” Mr Daley said
Folbigg has been championed by an army of supporters spearheaded by her childhood friend Tracy Chapman, who will take Folbigg in to live with her at her farm near Coffs Harbour.
Canadian based law academic Emma Cunliffe did a PhD into multiple deaths in one family, wrote a book and launched a legal campaign to get the conviction overturned.
That cheer squad has been missing one key person who took the resuscitation course after the death of the first baby and became frantic when his wife failed to put on the baby monitor alarms later.
Craig Folbigg gave evidence against Folbigg during the original trial and the subsequent appeals and inquiries. Mr Daley said it was “a tough day for him.”
SUMMARY FINDINGS
Mr Daley released summary findings prepared by the Hon Thomas Bathurst AC KC, who has been leading the Inquiry into the convictions of Kathleen Megan Folbigg.
In a memorandum outlining his findings, Mr Bathurst stated he had reached “a firm view that there was reasonable doubt as to the guilt of Ms Folbigg for each of the offences for which she was originally tried”.
Based on these findings, Mr Daley recommended to the Governor that the Royal prerogative of mercy be applied to unconditionally pardon Ms Folbigg.
Key points from Mr Bathurst’s memorandum to the Attorney-General include:
• There is a reasonable possibility that three of the children died of natural causes.
• In the case of Sarah and Laura Folbigg, there is a reasonable possibility a genetic mutation known as CALM2-G114R occasioned their deaths.
• Mr Bathurst was “unable to accept … the proposition that Ms Folbigg was anything but a caring mother for her children”.
• In relation to the death of a fourth child, Mr Bathurst found that “the coincidence and tendency evidence which was central to the (2003) Crown case falls away”.
• In relation to Ms Folbigg’s diary entries, evidence suggests they were the writings of a grieving and possibly depressed mother, blaming herself for the death of each child, as distinct from admissions that she murdered or otherwise harmed them
Mr Bathurst advised that due to the volume of submissions and evidence, it would take some time for the formal report to be finalised, Mr Daley said.
“The result today is confirmation that our judicial system is capable of delivering justice, and demonstrates that the rule of law is an important underpinning of our democratic system,” he said.
“I thank the team on the inquiry for the work they have done so far. I also thank Mr Bathurst for the thorough and robust assessment he provided me which helped enable this outcome.
“I thank the previous Attorney-General Mark Speakman and the NSW Governor her Excellency the Hon Margaret Beazley, KC, AC, for establishing this inquiry.
“Given all that has happened over the last 20 years, it is impossible not feel sympathy for Kathleen and Craig Folbigg. I am glad that our legal system in NSW contains provisions that allow for the continual pursuit of truth and justice.”
Folbigg was jailed in 2003 for a minimum of 25 years for the murder of her three children Patrick, Sarah and Laura, and manslaughter of a fourth Caleb, in a case that relied heavily on her diary entries written at the time.
Why super-fast Australian crew still underdogs in Youth America’s Cup
They are sailing faster than they have ever done but a quartet of Australian sailing rising stars still enter the Youth Americas Cup as rank underdogs thanks to a strange rule.
Read more
Would-be thieves in a flutter after tourist attraction break-in thwarted
A popular northern NSW tourist attraction filled with exotic butterfly species has been broken into, with owners saying the alleged would-be burglars fled the scene after “freaking out”.
Read more