The woman
once considered
Australia's worst female serial killer,
is enjoying her first taste of freedom
since 2003.
Kathleen Folbigg,
who was pardoned
Monday over the death
of four of her babies
earlier released this video statement.
My eternal gratitude
goes to my friends and family,
especially Tracy and all of her family,
and I would not have survived
this whole ordeal without them.
Today is a victory for science
and especially truth.
And for the last 20 years,
I have been in prison.
I have forever and will always
think of my children,
great for my children.
And I miss them and love them terribly.
Thank you.
On her first day out of prison
in 20 years,
according to her childhood friend MS.
Folbigg had a cup of tea
and enjoyed a good night's sleep.
She was convicted of killing her
young children
over a decade from 1989 to 1999.
But new evidence found
a genetic defect caused
at least three of the deaths.
Those children.
Joining us now
from the Australian capital,
Canberra, Anna-Maria
Arabia is the CEO
of the Australian Academy of Sciences.
One of the parties
that actually managed to get this case
managed to get this part in for her.
So thank you so much for being with us.
We really appreciate your time.
I just want to
help with the
thought here, which seems unshakable.
Is that MS.
Folbigg spent
not only two decades in prison
for a crime he didn't commit.
At the same time,
she was accused of killing her children,
but also dealing
with the grief of their death.
It just seems two decades of hell.
It's unimaginable trauma and grief.
And in all of our scientific work
to support this case,
it has been difficult to imagine
what she has been through.
But we have kept in our minds
the thought that behind this case
and all of the scientific evidence,
there is a woman who has experienced
immense trauma and grief in her life.
It really is unimaginable
for us, I believe.
Explain to me the science of how
this all began.
You've actually
had her name
cleared, how
this pardon came about,
what your role in all this
and how you came into this
in the first place.
Yes.
She was convicted in 2003.
And of course, at that time,
the human genome
was just being sequenced.
And none of the information
that has led to her
pardon was available at the time.
There was a first inquiry
into the convictions of Kathleen
Folbigg held in 2019, and at that time
there were the genome of both Kathleen
and her four children was sequenced
and the analysis around
that genomic sequence had had commenced.
And indeed in 2019
some mutations are rare,
genetic mutations were found to be held
by both Katherine
Kathleen
and her children and her two daughters
and it was on the strength
of that evidence
and each
being presented in a preliminary sense
at that first inquiry
and really not being adequately explored
that one of our fellows
of the Australian Academy of Science
Professor Carolyn Weiser,
approached us
and said
We do need to look at this further.
You know,
there is more information
available here
in the Australian justice system
Does need to hear
full and comprehensive
scientific evidence around this case.
And so began our investigation
of the science and Professor Van
Weiss's efforts to
reach out to experts
right around the world
to ask for their help,
their specific expertize
to help understand
what this genetic mutation meant.
And over time
it's become very clear
that the cow module
and mutation held by Kathleen
and her daughters is rare
and is a likely cause of death via
cardiac arrhythmia.
So a sudden
stopping of the heart
that can lead to death
and in this case is likely
to have occurred for her two daughters.
There was also an enormous
body of evidence
around the health
or should I say ill health
of her two sons.
One of her
sons, Patrick, had epilepsy
and indeed died after a seizure
and had suffered some
ill health over his life.
And Caleb died,
unfortunately, at 19 days,
and he was unable to swallow
and breathe at the same time.
He had a respiratory illness,
which was quite acute
and then led to his death.
So this
collective body of scientific evidence,
as well
as scientific evidence
to analyze diaries and journals
that Kathleen Folbigg
had kept
all came together in this second inquiry
that has led the commission
of the inquiry,
the Honorable
Tom Bathurst, to arrive
at a very firm conclusion
that there are natural causes of death
for all of the Folbigg children
and that he strongly recommended
that she be pardoned
or that there'd be reasonable
doubt as to her convictions
which then led the Attorney-General
of New South Wales to recommend a pardon
which has been granted
leading to her release yesterday.
Yeah, it's an incredible story
the science is amazing.
Just it took so long obviously, but
this is how these things are
and 20 years in jail
just seems like a very long time.
But it seems that justice has been done,
I guess,
and that she is now a free woman
and he's staying with us.
And congratulations on all your work.
It's a great outcome.
Thanks so much. Thank you.