The Squiz 

After being pardoned by the NSW Attorney-General in June, Kathleen Folbigg – the woman who was jailed in 2003 over the deaths of her 4 children – has had her convictions quashed. Yesterday, the Court of Criminal Appeal in Sydney found new scientific evidence meant there was “reasonable doubt” over her guilt – in line with retired Chief Justice Tom Bathurst’s findings in an inquiry he led into the case that saw her released from prison earlier this year. Outside court, Folbigg – who was once branded Australia’s worst female serial killer but always maintained her innocence – was emotional, saying she’d always “hoped and prayed that one day I would be able to stand here with my name cleared”.

Back it up a bit…

Folbigg’s children – Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura – were aged between 19 days and 19 months when each died suddenly between 1989-99. After Laura died in 1999, police began investigating and laid charges against Folbigg in 2001. A key piece of evidence was Folbigg’s diary entries – prosecutors at the time alleged they showed Folbigg had a “tendency to become stressed and lose her temper and control with each of her children, and then to asphyxiate them”. Experts were split over whether those diary entries were evidence enough to convict Folbigg, but she was convicted in 2003. In 2021, an international team of scientists published evidence that Folbigg and her daughters shared a genetic mutation linked to life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias, and her sons also carried a gene linked to “early onset lethal epilepsy”. That led to a fresh inquiry, and Folbigg was let free in June after serving 20 of her 25-year sentence.

So what happens now?

Although she didn’t mention an exact dollar figure, Folbigg’s lawyer Rhanee Rego has confirmed that they’ll seek “substantial” compensation for what scientists labelled one of Australia’s most significant “miscarriages of justice”. It’s set to be a record amount… Supporters have also called for law reform to build a more science-based legal system. Australian Academy of Science chief Anna-Maria Arabia says despite scientific evidence in Folbigg’s favour being available years ago, “basic scientific principles were not adhered to”, which means “these sorts of miscarriages of justice will continue”. For her part, Folbigg said she hopes “that no one else will ever have to suffer what I suffered”.