by Kathleen Folbigg was convicted as a child killer and Australia’s “most hated woman” when she was convicted in 2003 of murdering three of her children and the manslaughter of another.
But on Thursday, Folbigg’s convictions were overturned by an appeals court after an inquiry examined new scientific evidence and found there was reasonable doubt of his guilt.
She was previously pardoned and released from prison in June after 20 years behind bars.
The case could lead to the biggest compensation payout for a wrongful conviction in Australia – and a reckoning for the nation’s legal system.
“For almost a quarter of a century, I was met with disbelief and hostility,” Folbigg said after her acquittal.
“I suffered all kinds of abuse. I hoped and prayed that one day I would be able to stand here with my name cleared. I hope that no one else will ever have to suffer what I suffered.”
‘They picked words and phrases from my diaries’
Folbigg’s original guilty plea was not based on medical evidence that explained how her four young children – Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura – died between 1989 and 1999 aged between 19 days and 18 months.
Instead, the prosecution relied heavily on Folbig’s diary entries as an admission of guilt. No trauma, journalism or grief experts were called to testify.
The case against Folbigg also relied on Meadow’s Law – a controversial and now discredited precept that the sudden death of three or more infants in one family was murder until proven otherwise.
In one diary entry written in 1998 about Laura, the last of her children to die, Folbig wrote: “I shouted at her so angrily that it scared her, she wouldn’t stop crying. I went so bad I almost dropped her on the floor and left her.”
“I restrained enough to put her on the floor and walk away. I went to my room and she left crying. It was probably only 5 minutes gone but it seemed like a lifetime. I feel like the worst mother in this world. Afraid she will leave me now. As did Sarah. I knew I was short tempered & sometimes cruel to her & she left. With a little help.”
Folbigg accused the prosecution Thursday of taking her words out of context.
“They chose words and phrases from my diaries. My private feelings were in those books, which I wrote for myself,” she said.
“No one expects strangers to read those kinds of things, let alone comment. They took my words out of context and turned against me. They accused me of something I didn’t write about, never wrote about and couldn’t do.”
A two-decade fight for Folbigg a ‘herculean effort
The legal system was simply not working as it should have seen the release of Folbigg in the end, according to his lawyer, Rhanee Rego, who has worked pro-bono since 2017.
Australia does not have an independent body to investigate possible miscarriages of justice – unlike the UK, US, New Zealand and Canada which have independent commissions to review convictions.
As Rego said, Folbigg’s case hinged on “a large group of good people who saw an injustice and did something about it”.
One of them was Emma Cunliffe, a justice expert at the University of British Columbia who published Murder, Medicine and Motherhood about the Folbigg case in 2011.
He argued that she had been wrongfully convicted and the diary entries were not of a guilty woman – but of a grieving mother trying to make sense of her trauma.
Cunliffe called for irrational reasoning in Folbigg’s case, noting that normal behavior such as working part-time and putting her children in childcare so she could go to the gym was painted as suspicious. in court.
One came to light in 2018 when research by a team of experts, including immunologist Professor Carola Vinuesa, discovered that Folbigg and her two daughters – Laura and Sarah – had a rare genetic variation called CALM2-G114R. He indicated that there was a high possibility that the deaths were natural.
Vinuesa testified at a judicial inquiry in 2019 into Folbig’s conviction. He also examined evidence from the initial trial and confirmed Folbigg’s guilt.
The latest genetic evidence and medical research carried out by an international team of scientists – which included the identification that both boys, Caleb and Patrick, had variants in a gene called BSN “shown to cause fatal early-onset epilepsy in mice” – in mice. another inquiry earlier this year.
He was inspired by leading scientists who called for Folbigg’s release based on strong evidence that her children had died of natural causes. A 2023 inquiry found there was reasonable doubt about Folbigg’s convictions and in June she was pardoned and released from prison.
One of Folbig’s biggest advocates was childhood friend Tracy Chapman who always believed she was innocent. For 20 years, Chapman faced insults and death threats as he supported Folbigg during a failed appeal.
“The 20-year fight was a herculean effort for Kathleen,” she said. “It has cost jobs, lost income and broken lives and relationships. It also required mental strength.”
Folbig said she was grateful for updated science and that genetics had provided answers to how her children died. But, she said, the legal answers to prove her innocence were there in 1999.
“They were ignored and dismissed,” she said. “The system would rather blame me than accept that children die suddenly, unexpectedly, with heartbreak.”
An account of the Australian legal system
However, Folbig considers herself one of the “lucky people”.
“I have the opportunity, with support, to rebuild my life. But there are many others who are not so lucky. We need to be humble and open about improving the system to ensure that the truth is revealed because the truth and the right legal outcomes are important.”
Rego, the lawyer, said the case should be a turning point that forces Australia to introduce an independent body like the UK’s Criminal Cases Review Commission.
“While this is Kathleen’s story, it is indicative of wider problems in our legal system – a poorly designed review system that fails to recognize and correct miscarriages of justice in a timely manner.”
Rego said now that her convictions had been overturned she should receive compensation from the state. She would not put a figure but suggested it would be “more than any substantial payment made before”.
NSW attorney-general Michael Daley said the government would consider any requests for compensation.
“After everything that’s happened in the last 20 years, it’s impossible not to feel sympathy for everyone involved,” he said.
When Folbigg left prison in June, she moved to the Chapman ranch to heal and spend time with those close to her.
“My children are here with me today and they will be close to my heart for the rest of my life,” she said Thursday. “I loved my children and always will.”
