Mother acquitted after 20 years of innocent imprisonment
At the turn of the millennium, four children of a woman in Australia die in infancy. A court is certain that the mother murdered them. Advances in science now show that the deaths were caused by rare genetic defects. After 20 years in prison, the woman is now free.
After 20 years in prison, a woman in Australia has been acquitted of the charge of killing her four children. On Thursday, a court in Sydney overturned a 2003 murder conviction against Kathleen Folbigg. The woman, who was once described as "Australia's worst serial killer", had already been pardoned and released from prison in June. Prior to this, new scientific findings had cast strong doubt on her guilt.
"For almost a quarter of a century, I was confronted with disbelief and hostility," said Folbigg, who had always maintained her innocence, after her acquittal. "I am grateful that new science and genetics have given me answers about how my children died."
Folbigg was convicted of the murder of three of her children and the manslaughter of a fourth in 2003. The public prosecutor's office had accused her of suffocating the children between 1989 and 1999. The youngest child was 19 days old, the oldest around 18 months.
Folbigg demands "significant" compensation
In the absence of forensic evidence, the public prosecutor's office had argued that it was extremely unlikely that four children had died suddenly and without explanation. It also referred to the mother's diary entries, which the prosecution believed could be interpreted as admissions of guilt.
In recent years, however, new scientific findings have suggested that the children died as a result of rare genetic defects and birth defects. Among others, the Australian Academy of Science campaigned for Folbigg. After a thorough review of the case, the woman in her mid-fifties was pardoned and released from prison in June.
The 2003 verdict has now been officially overturned, with Folbigg's lawyer Rhanee Rego saying that her client is now entitled to "significant" compensation.
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The public prosecutor's office may need to reevaluate judicial errors in the Folbigg case, given the new scientific findings that point towards rare genetic defects as the cause of the children's deaths. This controversial case of murder and manslaughter charges in Australia has sparked international interest and discussions about the role of science in criminal justice.
Source: www.ntv.de
