Kathleen Folbigg inquiry

2022 - 5 - 18

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Image courtesy of "ABC News"

Another inquiry into Kathleen Folbigg's four convictions for killing her ... (ABC News)

NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman says he can understand why people "will roll their eyes" as he announces plans for another inquiry into Kathleen ...

"The new scientific evidence is the trigger for the inquiry but [Mr Bathurst QC] will determine the scope of evidence that he considers," Mr Speakman said. "And I am truly sorry for the pain that Mr Folbigg and his family [will endure] because of this retraumatisation." Mr Speakman said the report found a genome known as CALM2, which was present in the two girls, was a "likely explanation for the deaths". The Attorney-General said Folbigg's lawyers had asked for a pardon, but that but he believed that was inappropriate. Folbigg was in 2003 convicted of murdering three of her children, and the manslaughter of a fourth. "I can well understand why members of the public would shake their heads and roll their eyes in disbelief at the number of chances Ms Folbigg has had to clear her name," he said.

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Image courtesy of "The Washington Post"

New inquiry into Australian mother convicted of 4 homicides (The Washington Post)

An Australian state attorney general has declined to pardon a mother convicted almost 20 years ago of smothering her four children to death and instead ...

The team also reported that the boys carried different and rare variants of a gene that when defective causes mice to die young from epileptic fits. Her first child, Caleb, was born in 1989 and died 19 days later in what a court determined to be the lesser crime of manslaughter. An autopsy found Laura had myocarditis -- an inflammation of heart muscle that can be fatal. The other two deaths were recorded as sudden infant death syndrome. None of her children survived to a second birthday. Her second child, Patrick, was 8 months old when he died in 1991.

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Image courtesy of "SBS"

Fresh inquiry announced into Kathleen Folbigg's child killing ... (SBS)

The NSW governor has ordered an inquiry into the convictions of Kathleen Folbigg, who has spent nearly 20 years in jail for killing four of her children.

The previous inquiry took 11 months. "Ms Folbigg will get her chance to put a case before an inquiry who's a retired jurist, and that is a fairer way to go about things than me, as a politician behind closed doors, making a recommendation to the government," Mr Speakman said. Mr Speakman said it would be undermining the justice system if he were to bypass a second inquiry and recommend a pardon, and it was important that the process was open and transparent. "Tom Bathurst is a very efficient jurist and I'm sure he will run the inquiry as expeditiously as possible," he said. In order to be fair and equitable, the new inquiry will have to comprehensively consider that evidence, as well as fresh analysis of diary entries that were "cherry-picked" for evidence at the initial trial and first inquiry, Folbigg's solicitor Rhanee Rego said. NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman advised the governor to order an inquiry after she received a petition from prominent scientists in March last year, asking that Folbigg be pardoned

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Image courtesy of "The National Tribune"

Academy responds to decision to hold second inquiry to convictions ... (The National Tribune)

In March last year, over a hundred eminent scientists, including several Nobel Laureates, signed a petition seeking the immediate release of Kathleen Folbigg.

“It must be capable of understanding advances in science and able to apply appropriately the information to legal cases. These deaths have been recorded in an international registry curated by the world leading expert in the genetics of cardiac arrythmias Professor Peter Schwartz. Mutations in calmodulin affecting heart rhythm are amongst the best recognised causes of sudden and unexpected death in children. “The variant or mutation changes a protein called calmodulin that controls the way calcium enters and leaves heart cells. The biochemical testing showed that the effects of the variant found in the Folbigg family are as severe as those of other mutations that have led to sudden cardiac death in young children. The first outward sign of the disease can be a child dying while they sleep. “It is disappointing, given the strength of the medical and scientific findings, that Ms Folbigg has not been granted a pardon.

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