Australian authorities announced the pardon of Kathleen Folbigg on MondayHe spent twenty years in prison for the murders of his four babies, after his case was investigated as a result of a coordinated investigation by a Spanish scientist who attributed the deaths to genetic failures.
“Forgiven. Not surprisingly, I would also like to say that we have seized this opportunity. Have Miss Folbigg released without delay”At a press conference in Sydney, Australia’s Attorney General for the state of New South Wales, Michael Daley, said:
Australian authorities ordered last year Review Folbigg’s case for the deaths of his children Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura from 1989 to 1999 Between 19 days and 18 months after a group of scientists noted the possibility that these deaths were due to a rare genetic mutation.
The pardon came after former judge Tom Bathurst, who was tasked with examining the case, concluded: “There are reasonable doubts about Kathleen Folbigg’s guilt. For each of these crimes,” Daley said.
The 55-year-old woman is believed to have already been released. After receiving a pardon from New South Wales Governor-General Margaret Beazley, according to Australian public broadcaster ABC.
In the review, it was considered to exist. It is reasonably likely that three of the Folbigg children died of natural causes.The coincidence and propensity tests for the death of the fourth infant were not consistent with Bathurst’s conclusions.
Daley stated in that document that the attorney “cannot accept … the assumption that Folbigg was not a loving mother to her children”.
The role of a Spanish immunologist
A team of scientists coordinated by Spanish immunologist Carola García de Vinuesa and led by Danish Michael Toft Overgaard concluded in 2020: The deaths of Folbigg babies may be due to genetic causes.
Scientific research published in “Europace”, the special journal of the European Society of Cardiology, found a genetic mutation (CALM2) in Folbigg’s two daughters, Sarah and Laura. sudden cardiac death.
In addition, the study, consisting of an international team of 27 scientists, children carried rare variants of a gene It kills rodents by having epileptic seizures.
reopening the case
Folbigg was sentenced to 40 years in prison in 2003, reduced to 30 years in 2005.He unsuccessfully appealed his sentence several times for murdering his three children and murdering the other and pleading his innocence and guaranteeing that his children died of natural causes in the town of Hunter Valley, about 120 miles away. Sydney.
The case was reopened as a result. A letter sent to the Australian authorities in March 2021 By a hundred scientists – including two Nobel Prize winners – to demand Folbigg’s pardon and immediate release.