Child murderer Kathleen Folbigg LOSES her bid for freedom after she tried to prove her four babies all died from ‘natural causes’
- Kathleen Folbigg jailed in 2003 for at least 25 years for killing her four children
- Folbigg, who has already served 18 years, lost three appeals against conviction
- Justice John Basten concluded her guilt is ‘even more certain’
Kathleen Folbigg, jailed for killing her four children, has failed to get dismissed a former senior judge’s report that concluded her guilt was “even more certain” following a special review.
Former NSW District Court chief judge Reginald Blanch QC in 2019 found significant investigations had failed to find a reasonable natural explanation for any of the deaths of Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura, who all died before their second birthday in the decade to 1999.
Folbigg’s own explanations and behaviour in respect of her diaries, which weren’t available in any of the mother’s criminal appeals, made “her guilt of these offences even more certain”, Mr Blanch concluded.
Kathleen Folbigg, jailed for killing her four children, will learn on Wednesday if a former senior judge was right to conclude her guilt was ‘even more certain’ following a special review
She was also found guilty of the manslaughter of her first child, Caleb (left), who was 19 days old when he died in Newcastle in 1989. Patrick Folbigg pictured right
But the jailed woman challenged the conclusions in the NSW Court of Appeal, claiming Mr Blanch had failed in the obligation to conduct an inquiry about the potential for the deaths to have been natural.
The court on Wednesday dismissed her judicial review application and ordered she pay the state’s legal costs for February’s two-day hearing.
Written reasons will be published later in the day.
Folbigg moved her eyes towards the ceiling as she watched the court hand down its decision via video link from prison.
Her lawyer had told the court in February there was evidence that Caleb potentially died in 1989 of a floppy larynx – undermining Mr Blanch’s conclusion that there was no identifiable natural cause of Caleb’s death.
Folbigg was jailed in 2003 for at least 25 years for murdering her children Patrick, Sarah (right) and Laura (left) – aged from eight months to 19 months – between 1991 and 1999
Folbigg, who has already served 18 of a minimum 25-year jail term, lost three appeals against conviction, including one in the High Court in the mid-2000s
Jeremy Morris SC also suggested Folbigg’s contemporaneous diaries had only been read from the perspective the mother was guilty.
Folbigg, who has already served 18 of a minimum 25-year jail term, lost three appeals against conviction, including one in the High Court in the mid-2000s.
Her supporters say Sarah, Laura and their mother share a genetic mutation that has been linked to sudden deaths in young children – a theory Mr Blanch concluded didn’t raise reasonable doubt.
Three weeks ago, a group of prominent scientists put their name to a petition calling for a pardon and Folbigg’s immediate release, saying the genetic data was compelling evidence she did not kill her children.
The list of 90 scientists included Australian Academy of Science president John Shine, epidemiologist Professor Fiona Stanley, Nobel laureate Professor Peter Doherty and former chief scientist Professor Ian Chubb.
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