Kathleen Folbigg, known as Australia's "most hated woman", has had all the convictions against her, for killing her four children, quashed on Thursday. The New South Wales Supreme Court ruled that the evidence used to jail Folbigg was “not reliable”.
Folbigg was convicted in 2003 over murder charges. She had to spend about 20 years in jail before she was pardoned and released from prison in June this year.
“For almost a quarter of a century, I faced disbelief and hostility…I suffered abuse in all its form. 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,” Folbigg said after she was acquitted.
Folbigg’s children- Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura – aged between 19 days and 18 months, died between 1989 and 1999. Reportedly, her conviction was not based on scientific evidence but on her personal diary and journals. During the trial, no trauma or grief expert were called to give evidence.
“They cherrypicked words and phrases from my journals. Those books contained my private feelings, which I wrote to myself,” Folbigg said.
She is expected to be paid one of the biggest compensation payout after being wrongfully convicted.
Even Meadow’s Law added to her woes. The controversial law and now discredited precept that three or more sudden infant deaths in one family were murders until proven otherwise, reported The Guardian.
According to her lawyer, Rhanee Rego, who worked on the case since 2017, Folbigg's case relied on a "large group of good people who saw injustice and did something about it."
The breakthrough in the case came in 2018, when research by a team of experts, including immunologist professor Carola Vinuesa, found Folbigg and her two daughters – Laura and Sarah – carried a rare genetic variation known as CALM2-G114R. It was found that the deaths could be related to genetic issues.
At a 2019 judicial inquiry into Folbigg's conviction, Vinuesa had submitted the evidence.
The genetic evidence and fresh medical research by an international team of scientists – which included identifying that the two boys, Caleb and Patrick, carried variants in a gene known as BSN “shown to cause early onset lethal epilepsy in mice” – were again raised in another inquiry earlier this year.
Many scientists, who stood for Folbigg's release, argued that her children had died of natural causes.
Tracy Chapman, one of her childhood friend, always believed that she was innocent. “The 20-year fight for Kathleen has been a herculean effort,” she said. “It cost jobs, loss of income and shattered lives and relationships. It also required enormous mental fortitude," said Chapman.
Folbigg considers herself to be "lucky" as she has a chance to rebuild life with support, but she had shared concern for many other who fall prey to the legal system.
Rego said the case should be the turning point that forces Australia to introduce an independent body such as the UK’s Criminal Cases Review Commission.