Folbigg, pardoned after 20 years in prison: "It is a victory for science and for the truth"

Australian Kathleen Folbigg, who has served a 20-year sentence after being found guilty of the murder of her four babies, has said her recent pardon after the review of her case marks a "victory for science and especially for truth".

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
05 June 2023 Monday 22:21
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Folbigg, pardoned after 20 years in prison: "It is a victory for science and for the truth"

Australian Kathleen Folbigg, who has served a 20-year sentence after being found guilty of the murder of her four babies, has said her recent pardon after the review of her case marks a "victory for science and especially for truth". according to a testimonial video published this Tuesday.

Folbigg was pardoned and released on Monday after a review of her case - reopened following an investigation coordinated by the Spanish scientist Carola García de Vinuesa that linked the deaths to genetic failures - found "reasonable doubts" about her criminal responsibility. .

Folbigg, 55, expressed in the video, about 30 seconds released to the press, that she feels "extremely relieved" and "grateful" for the pardon received and her release. "Today is a victory for science and especially for truth," says Folbigg, his countenance calm and sometimes smiling. She adds that her memory of her four babies has always stayed with her throughout the two decades she was behind bars.

"For the last 20 years that I have been in prison I have always thought and will always think of my children, I will cry for my children and I will miss them and I will love them tremendously," Folbigg says.

Folbigg was sentenced in 2003 to 40 years in prison, reduced to 30 years in 2005, for the death of her children (Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura) between 1989 and 1999, when they were between 19 days and 18 months old.

But his case was reopened last year, after the publication in the specialized magazine Europace of the scientific investigation led by the Spanish immunologist Carola García de Vinuesa, which linked a genetic mutation (CALM2) of two of Folbigg's daughters, Sarah and Laura, with sudden cardiac death, as well as confirming that the children carried rare variants of a gene.

After leaving prison the day before, Folbigg enjoyed small pleasures on his first night of freedom, such as eating a pizza and sleeping in a bed, while adapting to new technology such as smartphones, as he told the press on Tuesday. a close friend.