A lady who had served 20 years in prison for the deaths of her four children was released on Monday by the state of New South Wales following the conclusion of a court review that there was cause for reasonable doubt regarding the initial convictions.
In 2003, Kathleen Megan Folbigg was found guilty of killing three of her children and manslaughtering a fourth. Folbigg defended her innocence and said the kids' deaths were due to natural causes.
A preliminary investigation in 2019 discovered that the facts supported Folbigg's guilt. However, a second investigation headed by the former chief judge Thomas Bathurst reexamined her convictions in 2022 after fresh information revealed that two of the kids may have had fatal genetic mutations.
Michael Daley, the state's attorney general for New South Wales, granted Folbigg's pardon on Monday following the summary of the Bathurst inquiry's findings that each conviction was reasonable in doubt.
The outcome today confirms that our judicial system can provide justice and shows that the rule of law is a crucial pillar of our democratic system, according to Daley.
Given everything that has occurred over the past 20 years, Kathleen and Craig Folbigg are inexcusably suffering.
Daley claimed that while Folbigg would be free to go, her convictions would be unaffected by the unconditional pardon.
According to Bathurst's note to the attorney general, there was a chance that three of the kids passed away naturally, two from the genetic mutation CALM2-G114R, and one from a neurogenic condition.
The Crown's case on the manslaughter of her fourth child was therefore compromised by these doubts, according to Bathurst.
Furthermore, he added, "I am unable to accept the notion that the evidence establishes that Ms Folbigg was anything other than a caring mother for her children."
