useapen
2023-12-15 09:48:11 UTC
A top Australian court on Thursday quashed all the convictions against a
woman who spent 20 years in prison over the deaths of her four children.
Kathleen Folbigg, 56, was pardoned and released from prison in June after
an inquiry found there was reasonable doubt as to whether she was
responsible for the deaths of her children, who all died before their 2nd
birthdays.
Once branded by the news media as Australias worst female serial
killer, Folbigg maintained her innocence throughout. Speaking outside the
New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal in Sydney on Thursday, she said
prosecutors had cherry-picked entries in her diary to secure the 2003
conviction that found her guilty of killing her children.
They took my words out of context and turned them against me, she told
local reporters.
An Australian mom was convicted of killing her 4 babies. Scientists say
shes innocent.
The diary entries were central to the prosecutions case, in a trial that
was based largely on circumstantial evidence and the argument that four
deaths within the same family could not have happened by chance.
I knew I was short-tempered and cruel sometimes to her and she left. With
a bit of help, she wrote in one diary entry about her daughter, Sarah,
that drew scrutiny during the trial.
The jury concluded that she had smothered the children, who were found,
one after the other, lifeless in their cribs between 1989 and 1999: Caleb
at 19 days, Patrick at eight months, Sarah at 10 months and Laura at 18
months.
Folbigg was sentenced to 40 years in prison for murder and manslaughter, a
sentence that was reduced to a minimum of 25 years on appeal.
In a 2018 documentary, she said the diary entries were written from a
point of me always blaming myself a trait experts say is common in
bereaved parents.
I took so much of the responsibility, because thats, as mothers, what
you do, Folbigg said in the documentary.
In 2021, dozens of scientists including two Nobel laureates petitioned
the state governor to request that Folbigg be pardoned and released. They
argued that there was significant positive evidence of natural causes of
death after finding rare genetic mutations in the DNA of Folbigg and her
daughters as well as variants in her sons DNA that have been connected to
deaths in young children.
In November, the final report of an inquiry into the case found there was
an identifiable cause for three of the childrens deaths and that
Folbiggs relationship with her children did not support the case that she
killed them.
The overturning of Folbiggs convictions creates a path for her to seek
compensation over her wrongful imprisonment. Representatives for Folbigg
didnt respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
In a statement to the Guardian newspaper, her attorney, Rhanee Rego,
suggested that it could be bigger than any substantial payment that has
been made before.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/14/kathleen-folbigg-children-
murder-acquitted/
woman who spent 20 years in prison over the deaths of her four children.
Kathleen Folbigg, 56, was pardoned and released from prison in June after
an inquiry found there was reasonable doubt as to whether she was
responsible for the deaths of her children, who all died before their 2nd
birthdays.
Once branded by the news media as Australias worst female serial
killer, Folbigg maintained her innocence throughout. Speaking outside the
New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal in Sydney on Thursday, she said
prosecutors had cherry-picked entries in her diary to secure the 2003
conviction that found her guilty of killing her children.
They took my words out of context and turned them against me, she told
local reporters.
An Australian mom was convicted of killing her 4 babies. Scientists say
shes innocent.
The diary entries were central to the prosecutions case, in a trial that
was based largely on circumstantial evidence and the argument that four
deaths within the same family could not have happened by chance.
I knew I was short-tempered and cruel sometimes to her and she left. With
a bit of help, she wrote in one diary entry about her daughter, Sarah,
that drew scrutiny during the trial.
The jury concluded that she had smothered the children, who were found,
one after the other, lifeless in their cribs between 1989 and 1999: Caleb
at 19 days, Patrick at eight months, Sarah at 10 months and Laura at 18
months.
Folbigg was sentenced to 40 years in prison for murder and manslaughter, a
sentence that was reduced to a minimum of 25 years on appeal.
In a 2018 documentary, she said the diary entries were written from a
point of me always blaming myself a trait experts say is common in
bereaved parents.
I took so much of the responsibility, because thats, as mothers, what
you do, Folbigg said in the documentary.
In 2021, dozens of scientists including two Nobel laureates petitioned
the state governor to request that Folbigg be pardoned and released. They
argued that there was significant positive evidence of natural causes of
death after finding rare genetic mutations in the DNA of Folbigg and her
daughters as well as variants in her sons DNA that have been connected to
deaths in young children.
In November, the final report of an inquiry into the case found there was
an identifiable cause for three of the childrens deaths and that
Folbiggs relationship with her children did not support the case that she
killed them.
The overturning of Folbiggs convictions creates a path for her to seek
compensation over her wrongful imprisonment. Representatives for Folbigg
didnt respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
In a statement to the Guardian newspaper, her attorney, Rhanee Rego,
suggested that it could be bigger than any substantial payment that has
been made before.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/14/kathleen-folbigg-children-
murder-acquitted/