Kathleen Folbigg, a mother jailed for 20 years over the deaths of her four babies, has been pardoned by the New South Wales Governor.
Kathleen Folbigg Pardoned
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - APRIL 25: NSW Governor Margaret Beazley walks during the ANZAC Day parade on April 25, 2023 in Sydney, Australia.
Folbigg, an Australian mother convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison for the deaths of her four babies, has been granted a pardon, according to the Associated Press News. The New South Wales (NSW) Governor, Margaret Beazley, has given Folbigg an unconditional pardon, freeing the 55-year-old mother from serving prison at Grafton in New South Wales.
The AP News notes that state governors in Australia, such as NSW Gov. Beazley, serve as figureheads, carrying out the instructions of the respective governments.
The NSW Attorney General Michael Daley revealed to reporters that the former justice Tom Bathurst advised him last week about the Kathleen Folbigg murder case.
He says, "There is reasonable doubt as to Ms. Folbigg's guilt of the manslaughter of her child Caleb, the infliction of grievous bodily harm on her child Patrick and the murder of her children Patrick, Sarah, and Laura." The Attorney General notes that new scientific evidence suggests that the deaths of her children were from natural causes.
The Australian mother has served 20 years of prison out of his 30-year-long sentence, which expires in 2033. And in 2028, the 55-year-old should have been eligible for parole.
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Who is Kathleen Folbigg?
As per CNN, Folbigg faced her 30-year sentence last 2003 over three counts of murder. She faced jail time after her four babies passed away in the same decade. Her firstborn named Caleb died 19 days after he was born in 1989. Meanwhile, her second child, Patrick, lived for eight months before his demise in 1991.
Besides her first two sons, her daughter, Sarah, passed away in 1993 after 10 months. And her fourth child, named Laura, lived for roughly more than a year, or 19 months, to be exact, before dying.
In all of these tragic deaths of her children, she found these dead bodies. But despite that, CNN notes that it lacked any physical evidence, which points out that their mother has killed them.
However, the prosecution argued that the chances of four babies belonging to the same family are extremely low. They say that the possibility of pigs flyings is comparably higher. And apart from these, the prosecution also says that her diary contained confessions of her guilt, citing passages, which mention isolation.
After roughly two decades, Folbigg has been freed from prison after the NSW governor pardoned her.
However, BBC notes that even though Folbigg received her unconditional pardon, it does not mean her conviction is completely gone. But if it gets overturned, she could get her hands on millions of dollars of compensation over wrongful conviction. Before it leads to that, the Australian mother must sue the NSW government first.
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