Kathleen Folbigg speaks out after being pardoned over deaths of her children, release from Grafton jail
Pardoned mother Kathleen Folbigg has spoken of her “eternal gratitude” for family and friends who worked to see her freed – and says she wouldn’t have survived otherwise. WATCH her message
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Kathleen Folbigg has spoken of her “eternal gratitude” for the family and friends who worked to see her released from prison – and says she would not have survived otherwise.
Ms Folbigg said on Tuesday, in her first public media statement in two decades: “I’m extremely humbled and extremely grateful for being pardoned and released from prison.”
“My eternal gratitude goes to my friends and family, especially Tracy (Chapman) and all of her family, and I wouldn’t have survived this whole ordeal without them,” she said.
“Today is a victory for science and especially truth … for the last 20 years I have been in prison, I have forever and will always think of my children, grieve for my children and miss them and love them terribly.”
Ms Folbigg, who has been staying at best friend Ms Chapman’s Glenreagh property in northern NSW, is reportedly in talks with media organisations about highly-sought after and expensive interviews.
Her video statement, captured professionally, was released by PR team GRACosway – which has handled the work pro-bono.
Nick Fordham was seen arriving at the property on Monday.
Mr Fordham is the man behind The Fordham Company, described online as “the biggest player in the Australian media and management field”.
Meanwhile, Glenreagh township has seemed almost oblivious to the extraordinary media firestorm occurring just 4km down the road.
While media from across the nation were camped out the front of Ms Chapman’s property, Glenreagh was going about its business as usual.
There are three main stores in the strip – a bakery, general store and a pub named The Golden Dog Hotel Motel.
At the general store, a family run business, a worker who did not wish to be named said she had not seen much change in her town.
“I know there’s something going on, but yeah sorry I’m not really sure what it’s all about,” she said.
Workers at the bakery said the town seemed as quiet as ever, expressing similar sentiments to the general store employee.
The only sign something was up was at the The Golden Dog Hotel, where the manager said the pub’s owner advised all staff not to speak to any media about Ms Folbigg’s case.
Apart from that one acknowledgment, the media circus surrounding Ms Folbigg has felt a world away from Glenreagh.
On Tuesday morning, supporters of Ms Folbigg revealed she spent her first night as a free woman enjoying pizza washed down with Kahlua and Coke.
Friends and Ms Folbigg’s legal team spoke in Coffs Harbour after she was released from Clarence Correctional Centre on Monday – pardoned after 20 years behind bars over the deaths of her four children.
Ms Chapman said Ms Folbigg, 55, harboured “no hatred” toward the legal system, despite her “unimaginable” experience.
She said Ms Folbigg enjoyed a pizza, garlic bread and a Kahlua and Coke after her whirlwind day.
“Yesterday was such a rush,” Ms Chapman said.
“She’s looking forward to starting afresh. We both wanted to cry, but couldn’t cry.”
Ms Chapman said it had been a “very hard, long slog” and the situation was “quite surreal”.
She was “so unprepared” for Ms Folbigg’s release to her Glenreagh property, near Coffs Harbour.
“It was one of those surreal days where you just kind of threw all your plans out the window,” she said.
“Kath and I were grateful though and we just got on with having a … it was just surreal, actually. I can’t actually say anything more that it was a surreal day. We just kind of … enjoyed each other’s company.
“She spent a lot of time with my dogs and getting to know my animals … we didn’t get our steak for dinner, which was a bugger.
Ms Chapman said Ms Folbigg “slept for the first time in a real bed” in years and enjoyed a cup of tea with “real crockery” and “real spoons”.
“So she’s actually said it was the first time she’s been able to sleep properly in 20 years, even though it was brief last night, because we were all on adrenaline,” she said.
“This morning we didn’t even get to see a sunrise because it rained last night. But anyway, we’ve had a lovely morning. We’ve been out with the horses this morning.”
It was revealed about a dozen supporters and friends have celebrated with Ms Folbigg.
Ms Chapman said her lifelong friend marvelled at how much the world had changed since she swapped civilian clothes for prison garb.
Ms Folbigg was “bamboozled” by the modern mobile phone and delighted to check out the near limitless viewing options on television.
She told Ms Chapman “my face muscles hurt from smiling so much”.
Ms Chapman said Ms Folbigg’s release came out of the blue.
“I didn’t get much notice … I was kind of cursing,” she said.
Ms Chapman said Ms Folbigg was looking forward to catching up on sleep and meeting up with friends in her new life.
“(She) wants to move on,” she said.
Ms Folbigg’s lawyer Rhanee Rego said Monday’s release marked a “huge moment in a really long and painful journey that Kathleen’s been on for 24 years”.
She said the state “has done the unimaginable to Kathleen Folbigg”.
“They have put her in prison when she lost her four children. This is a tragic story, but Kathleen is an example of a broader problem in the system,” she said.
“And if Australia really wants to make some good from a tragic story, they will seriously consider reviewing their system of post-conviction review.
“Ms Folbigg is grateful. She has no hatred. She is grateful that she is released today and we urge everyone to give her privacy while she enjoys the first bit of freedom.
“She will just be honouring the memory of her children every day as she’s done for 24 years.”
Ms Rego said the legal team would be talking “about (the) next steps”, including having convictions quashed.
As the sun rose over the Glenreagh property, the mist clearing from the hills, Ms Folbigg experienced her first morning of her new life.
She has been feeding the guinea pigs and feeling the grass under her feet on the 50 acre property – a sanctuary from constant media attention.
Apart from the sound of birds, the only noises outside the rural property on Tuesday morning were those of media crews filming live outside the property, and the occasional driver tooting their car’s horn.
Security guards had changed shifts and the only other movement was an unknown woman in a red car.
“Don’t film me, I’m no one,” she told a pack of reporters – her T-shirt emblazoned with “justice for Kathleen” visible as she drove off.
The release of Ms Folbigg stunned the nation in a news event which rippled worldwide.
The decision to pardon and immediately release her caught even those closest to her off guard.
Ms Folbigg was helped into a prison vehicle just after 11am and driven about 50km from the Grafton jail to the Glenreagh farm, near the Nana Glen property of actor Russell Crowe.
Inside the cloak and dagger operation of Kathleen Folbigg’s jail release to Glenreagh farm
At the farm gates, Ms Folbigg embraced Ms Chapman, before the pair walked inside the home.
Ms Folbigg walked free after an inquiry concluded there was reasonable doubt about her convictions.
She 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.
NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley made the call to pardon her on Monday after receiving an advanced copy of the preliminary findings of a special inquiry into the case.
Mr Daley said “new evidence had come to light” which made it appropriate to pardon her.
“This has been a terrible ordeal for everyone concerned and I hope our actions today can put some closure on the 20-year-old (matter),” he said.
While Ms Folbigg is now a free woman, the world has changed greatly during her time of imprisonment.
In 2003, John Howard was prime minister, Canberra homes were torched by bushfire, and Guy Sebastian had a No. 1 hit with ‘Angels Brought Me Here’.
The latter a telling segue to Lindy Chamberlain, sentenced to life imprisonment in 1982 for the murder of her baby Azaria.
In 1986, Azaria’s jacket was discovered near a dingo’s den at the base of Uluru. Ms Chamberlain was released days later. She had served four years.
A movie of her trials was made, ‘Evil Angels’.
Folbigg and Chamberlain not only lost their children, they lost years of their life.
Originally published as Kathleen Folbigg speaks out after being pardoned over deaths of her children, release from Grafton jail
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