Kathleen Folbigg pardoned, released from prison

Folbigg, now 55, was jailed in 2003 for a minimum of 25 years for the murder of her three children Patrick, Sarah and Laura, and manslaughter of a fourth Caleb.

Folbigg was released from Clarence Correctional Centre at Grafton at 11.25am. She walked to freedom after spending 20 years behind bars.

NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley made the call to pardon her after receiving an advanced copy of the preliminary findings of a special inquiry into the case.

Mr Daley said “new evidence had come to light” which made it appropriate to pardon her.

“This has been a terrible ordeal for everyone concerned and I hope our actions today can put some closure on the 20 year old (matter),” he said.

On his own emotions, Mr Daley said: “(There are) four little bubbas who are dead, we have a husband and wife who have lost each other, (and) a woman who spent 20 years in jail … You’d not be human if you didn’t feel something about that.”

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Mr Daley said the pardon does not mean the convictions were quashed: the only body able to do that is the Court of Criminal Appeal.

If that happened, Ms Folbigg could have a case for compensation after 20 years in jail.

Mr Daley said that move would rest on the final findings released by former NSW chief justice Tom Bathurst, who has presided over the most recent inquiry into Ms Folbigg’s case.

“One of the options that would be open to him, if he thought fit, would be to refer to the Court of Criminal Appeal the question of whether her conviction should be quashed … If that was to happen, it would be open to Ms Folbigg to initiate civil proceedings against the state of New South Wales for compensation,” he said.

Mr Daley had a message for people who still faced doubts over whether she should be pardoned.

“It’s human nature to form a view and make your own mind up based on what you know … But the evidence that has been put before Mr Bathurst was voluminous. No ordinary citizens have that sort of volume of information or detail before them. So we just have to trust that the law did its job, that we had an eminent judicial officer in charge, who reviewed that evidence and has come to a conclusion,” he said.

Greens MP Sue Higginson, who last week moved a motion urging the government to pardon or parole Ms Folbigg, said the matter was the equivalent of the “second Lindy Chamberlain case here in Australia”.

‘TODAY IS A VERY GOOD DAY’

She commended the many advocates and lawyers who had supported and worked on Ms Folbigg’s case over the last 20 years, adding she hoped the sun would shine brightly for Ms Folbigg as she walked out of prison on Monday morning.

“I woke up in my own bed on Saturday morning, and all I felt was the weight of injustice and grief. And today is a very good day, and whatever that sun looks like, may it be the biggest sun that we can imagine,” she said.

An emotional Peter Yates, part of Ms Folbigg’s supporter group, said “hope” had kept her afloat during her confinement.

“We are just so delighted for Kathleen, a poor, innocent woman who spent 20 years her life being incarcerated for doing something that she never did,” he said.

“Anger is a virtue (which is) probably not that useful … That anger is not going to bring back 20 years of being incarcerated, five years which were predominantly in solitary confinement. I don’t know what anger does for you,” he said.

“Hope is a better virtue.”.

SUMMARY FINDINGS

Mr Daley released summary findings prepared by the Hon Thomas Bathurst AC KC, who has been leading the Inquiry into the convictions of Kathleen Megan Folbigg.

In a memorandum outlining his findings, Mr Bathurst stated he had reached “a firm view that there was reasonable doubt as to the guilt of Ms Folbigg for each of the offences for which she was originally tried”.

Based on these findings, Mr Daley recommended to the Governor that the Royal prerogative of mercy be applied to unconditionally pardon Ms Folbigg.

Key points from Mr Bathurst’s memorandum to the Attorney-General include:

• There is a reasonable possibility that three of the children died of natural causes.

• In the case of Sarah and Laura Folbigg, there is a reasonable possibility a genetic mutation known as CALM2-G114R occasioned their deaths.

• Mr Bathurst was “unable to accept … the proposition that Ms Folbigg was anything but a caring mother for her children”.

• In relation to the death of a fourth child, Mr Bathurst found that “the coincidence and tendency evidence which was central to the (2003) Crown case falls away”.

• In relation to Ms Folbigg’s diary entries, evidence suggests they were the writings of a grieving and possibly depressed mother, blaming herself for the death of each child, as distinct from admissions that she murdered or otherwise harmed them

Mr Bathurst advised that due to the volume of submissions and evidence, it would take some time for the formal report to be finalised, Mr Daley said.

“The result today is confirmation that our judicial system is capable of delivering justice, and demonstrates that the rule of law is an important underpinning of our democratic system,” he said.

“I thank the team on the inquiry for the work they have done so far. I also thank Mr Bathurst for the thorough and robust assessment he provided me which helped enable this outcome.

“I thank the previous Attorney-General Mark Speakman and the NSW Governor her Excellency the Hon Margaret Beazley, KC, AC, for establishing this inquiry.

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“Given all that has happened over the last 20 years, it is impossible not feel sympathy for Kathleen and Craig Folbigg. I am glad that our legal system in NSW contains provisions that allow for the continual pursuit of truth and justice.”

Folbigg was jailed in 2003 for a minimum of 25 years for the murder of her three children Patrick, Sarah and Laura, and manslaughter of a fourth Caleb, in a case that relied heavily on her diary entries written at the time.

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