Kathleen Folbigg Declared Innocent In Murder Case: 9 Things To Know

The fight for justice is a long one as we have seen cases being delayed for years and suspects roaming free for decades. There have been cases where justice was delivered after people were no more alive and there were also cases where the wrong person was punished. Just like this case from Australia where a woman was declared innocent after spending 20 years in jail.

Evidence plays a crucial role in criminal cases and its misuse can change the entire course of the case. There have been times that lack of evidence helped the culprit escape punishment while at other times its absence saves people from getting wrongly accused. Delivering justice is a complicated process that depends heavily on evidence. However, there have been times that evidence or the lack of them landed innocent people in jail.

One such case is the very popular murder case from Australia from 2003 in which Kathleen Folbigg was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the murder of her four children. However, recently, after spending 20 years in jail, Folbigg was found to be innocent, highlighting a major fault in justice delivery.

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Kathleen Folbigg Found Innocent: 9 Things To Know

1. In 2003, Kathleen Folbigg was announced guilty of the manslaughter of her first-born son Caleb and the murder of her three other children, Laura, Sarah, and Patrick, between 1989 to 1999.
2. The kids were only 19 days to 19 months in age when they were suffocated by their mother to death, as reported by the prosecutors at that time.
3. Folbigg was heavily criticised by the public for such a cruel crime and was even called as the worst female serial killer in Australia. Despite the evidence and rulings, Folbigg held on to her claim to be innocent.
4. Initially in October 2003, she was sentenced to 40 years in imprisonment which was reduced to 30 years prison time with 25 years non parole period in 2005.
5. However, years later immunologists discovered a genetic mutation that caused the untimely death of infant children by cardiac arrest and pointed out that it might be the case in the death of Folbigg's daughter as well.
6. They also claimed that her sons potentially possessed a genetic mutation that caused sudden onset epilepsy and filed a petition for the release of the woman based on genetic evidence.
7. On June 5, the New South Wales court acknowledged that the advancement in genetic knowledge has made them reconsider the cause of death of Folbigg's infants. They also said that there was doubt in her guilt sentence from the claims against her in 2003.
8. On Monday, she was completely pardoned by the New South Wales governor, a decision that was hailed by the people who supported her. They called an immensely significant compensation for Folbigg.
9. However, her convictions have not yet been erased and that will only happen if Tom Bathurst, former chief justice and retired judge who headed the inquiry of Folbigg's case, refers her case to the Court of Criminal Appeal.