Australian woman in jail 20 years over deaths of her 4 children wins appeal case after getting pardon

Applause filled the courtroom and Folbigg wept after Chief Justice Andrew Bell overturned three convictions of murder and one of manslaughter.

How ruling to overturn detention of asylum seekers, refugees splits Australia

“While the verdicts at trial were reasonably open on the evidence available, there is now reasonable doubt as to Ms Folbigg’s guilt,” Bell said.

“It is appropriate Ms Folbigg’s convictions … be quashed,” Bell said.

Outside court, Folbigg thanked her supporters, lawyers and scientists for clearing her name.

“For almost a quarter of a century, I faced disbelief and hostility. I suffered abuse in all its forms. I hoped and prayed that one day I would be able to stand here with my name cleared,” Folbigg said.

“I am grateful that updated science and genetics have given me answers of how my children died,” she said tearfully.

06:39

Australia’s proposed koala haven under threat as logging increases

Australia’s proposed koala haven under threat as logging increases

But she said evidence that was available at the time of her trial that her children had died of natural causes was either ignored or dismissed.

“The system preferred to blame me rather than accept that sometimes children can and do die suddenly, unexpectedly and heartbreakingly,” Folbigg said.

Her lawyer, Rhanee Rego, said their legal team would now demand “substantial” compensation from the state government for the years spent in prison. Folbigg had been labelled in the media as Australia’s worst female serial killer.

The inquiry that recommended Folbigg’s pardon and acquittal was prompted by a petition signed in 2021 by 90 scientists, medical practitioners and related professionals that argued that significant new evidence showed the children likely died of natural causes.

In Australia, rise in heatwaves linked to rates of domestic violence

Her first child, Caleb, was born in 1989 and died 19 days later in what a jury determined to be the lesser crime of manslaughter. Her second child, Patrick, was 8 months old when he died in 1991. Two years later, Sarah died at 10 months. In 1999, Folbigg’s fourth child, Laura, died at 19 months.

Prosecutors argued she smothered them. She was convicted in 2003 and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Evidence was discovered in 2018 that both daughters carried a rare CALM2 genetic variant that could have caused their sudden deaths.

Australia-Tuvalu treaty sparks fears of population drain, threat to sovereignty

Experts also testified that myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart, was also a possible cause of Laura’s death.

There was also expert evidence that Patrick’s sudden death was possibly caused by an underlying neurogenetic disorder.

The scientific explanations for the three siblings’ deaths undermined the prosecutors’ case that the tragedies established a pattern of behaviour that pointed to Caleb’s probable manslaughter.