After 20 years in jail, Kathleen Folbigg has no hatred in her heart and is finding joy in the small luxuries of everyday life.
Tracy Chapman said Monday was “pandemonium” and she was totally unprepared after receiving just 40 minutes notice her lifelong friend was about to arrive at her northern NSW farm gate.
Folbigg received an unconditional pardon and was released from Grafton jail on Monday after an inquiry heard there was reasonable doubt about her guilt following her 2003 conviction over the deaths of her four children.
Ms Chapman told reporters her friend harboured no hatred about her treatment and was overjoyed by her sudden freedom.
“She actually said to me this morning, ‘my face muscles hurt from smiling so much’,” she said.
Folbigg spent Monday on Ms Chapman’s farm getting to know the animals and was just happy to get her first “proper” sleep in 20 years.
“She slept for the first time in a real bed, had a cup of tea in a real crockery cup, real spoons to stir with,” her friend said.
“That sounds basic to you all, but she’s grateful. Decent tea, real milk.”
However, there was no time to cook the dinner of T-bone steak Folbigg had dreamed of for years in jail. Instead, the party of about 12 settled for pizza.
Folbigg did get one special request.
“She asked for a Kahlua and coke. It was a flashback to the last 20 years,” Ms Chapman said, laughing.
Lawyer Rhanee Rego says the next hurdle for Folbigg’s legal team is to get her convictions quashed in the Court of Criminal Appeal, followed by compensation.
“She not only lost one child, she has lost four and been in jail for 20 years.
“The system has failed her at every step.
“Instead of trying to understand why her children died, potentially through an inquest … we threw her in jail, locked her up and called her Australia’s worst female serial killer.”
Just as Lindy Chamberlain protested her innocence, the former Hunter Valley hospitality worker always denied responsibility for the deaths of her children, Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura, who were all under the age of two when they died between 1989 and 1999.
There is the prospect she will join a select few in Australia, including Ms Chamberlain, in being awarded seven-figure sums following wrongful convictions.
Robyn Blewer, director of the Griffith University Innocence Project, pointed to two recent cases to indicate the extent to which Folbigg could be compensated for her 7300 days in jail.
West Australian man Scott Austic in May received $1.3 million on top of an earlier payment of $250,000 after serving nearly 13 years for the murder of his pregnant secret lover.
He had sought $8.5 million after being acquitted in 2020 on appeal.
Both payments were voluntary, while David Eastman was awarded $7 million in damages by the ACT Supreme Court in 2019 after his wrongful conviction for the murder of Australian Federal Police assistant commissioner Colin Winchester.
Dr Blewer said the amount Folbigg received might depend on what the government was willing to pay.
“Twenty years is a substantial amount of time lost,” she said.
“It might depend on the good grace of the NSW government.”
Before that can happen, Folbigg’s lawyers will await the final report of former chief justice and inquiry head Tom Bathurst into her convictions.
An application to the Court of Criminal Appeal to quash her convictions will likely follow.
Australian Associated Press