Foreign for the past 20 years Australian story has forensically followed the case of Kathleen folbig a woman convicted of killing her four children during the years of her imprisonment her supporters worked and worked to draw attention to Scientific breakthroughs.
That ultimately led to her pardon and release last week Kathleen fulbig has always maintained her innocence although in the trial her husband testified against her and he still thinks the jury got it right this is an update of how the case for her Freedom was built over more than a decade.
the story of Kathleen fulbig has gone right around the world come under more public and media scrutiny than any other crime or criminal trial in Australia when she was convicted in 2003 there was an enormous burst of publicity around the case she was described as a monster.
And as Australia's worst female serial killer the most hated woman in Australia no in my view this case was never strong enough to justify persecution let alone a conviction tonight all smiles and at home Kathleen fallbig free after 20 years of hell it's always been hard to to look at this case and think how could.
All of this have happened and how can there have been so many legal processes and you know nobody put everything together how do you feel I am so elated it was in what we've believed was an innocent woman who'd been in jail for 20 years it appeared to be a real miscarriage of.
Justice the big question being asked now is did the legal system fail Kathleen folby you are about to receive a phone call from an inmate at present not Correctional Center your conversation will be recorded and may be monitored if you do not wish to receive this call.
Please hang up now hello good morning good morning Bob how are you good how are you I'm good I'm good what have you been up to 2018 Australian story broadcast phone calls between Kathleen fallbig and her childhood friend Tracy Chapman and Kathleen fallbig was speaking from jail and it's the first time we'd heard her.
Voice Kathy's Rings about 9 30 in the morning most days just give it cleaning and all the laundry and all the stuff you're doing here I've known cat since we were little at primary school together but generally are you feeling okay yes you know well I've been in here long enough she's not standing there screaming all.
The time I've been wrongly done that's not Kathy's in this justice system she would rather sit there go through due process and let the world see that they made a really big mistake ah Kathleen fallbig's been in jail for 20.
Years over minimum 25 years sentence and she was convicted in a case that was entirely circumstantial of three counts of murder and one of manslaughter there is an extraordinary team of supporters who have gathered together in the last few years to promote her case and to argue that in fact she's innocent of the crime she was convicted of.
Um it's it's a team that includes businessmen it includes lawyers I try to get out to see Katrina's as I can so I drive from Newcastle to cessnock we'll go through what's happening with the the legal process in 2013 I gathered together the great legal Minds in Newcastle and started.
Researching and looking into it there's no doubt Kathy had a difficult life long before she ended up in jail thank you at the age of three she was placed in her foster family Kathy told me that her father had murdered her mother which is how she.
Ended up in the foster care system Kathleen's father he liked to drink and so did her mother Kathleen Donovan when her mother left in a in a fight he went after her he begged her to come back when she refused eventually he stabbed her 24 times she finished school after the trial HSC and she met Craig around that time.
I guess because of you know being a foster kid in a state Ward you know you know I sort of thought family was it was to be the ultimate important thing Caleb was the the first born he was born on the 1st of February 1989. sadly he only lived 19 days Kathleen said she'd gone to check on him and she'd found him a limp and lifeless.
Caleb's cause of death was determined at autopsy to be sudden infant death syndrome a sudden death of an infant under one year of age which remains unexplained once she was pregnant with Patrick she was apprehensive but she was excited the general consensus was that it only.
Happens once Patrick was born on the 3rd of June 1990 when he was about four months old Kathy said she found him to be not breathing Craig performed CPR Kathleen called an ambulance and Patrick was revived on that occasion.
Triggs developed severe brain damage stemming from that life-threatening event Nothing But ultimately led to his Siege disorder foreign four months later when Patrick was eight months old Kath had put Patrick down for a sleep and she said she went in and.
Found him not breathing an ambulance was called but he wasn't able to be resuscitated on that occasion Pathologists have determined that death in Patrick's case was due to Airways obstruction which was in turn due to epileptic fits which was in turn due to an.
Uncapitalopathic disorder or disease of the brain Kathleen fallbig's third child was Sarah born 18 months later alive in August 1993 when Sarah was 10 months old Kathy said she got up to to check on Sarah and found her to be lifeless an ambulance was called and she was.
Unable to be resuscitated Sarah's death was determined to be a synonym for death syndrome case he's such a busy babies three years after that the volbeats had a fourth child Laura knock on the door she was the only one of the four big babies to reach their first birthday it's love doing that don't you think.
You're funny she was you know around the longest and when she got to 12 months we we actually thought we were home and hard on the 1st of March 1999 Laura was about 19 months old Kathy said she'd transferred her inside left her asleep and then checked on her about 15-20 minutes later and and found.
It to be not breathing suits already in your name I died or feel anything anymore I didn't care I didn't feel anything because I was left behind.
And I'm not going to be this mother I immediately just blamed myself when I'm a God I got complacent Laura I suffered from a cold-like illness during the week prior to death she ultimately was found to have my colitis at autopsy and that's typically caused by a viral infection myocarditis means inflammation of the.
Heart muscle Dr Carla the autopsy pathologist who conducted the autopsy on Laura determined that the cause of death was in fact under 10 when Laura died she was aged about 18 to 20 months then that's just far too old for that death to be called Sun infant death.
Syndrome Alan Carla did it thorough examination of Laura's little body this is the fourth child in his family and he said well I can't say to you 100 that Laura wasn't suffocated in the 90s and the early part of this Century there was a general sentiment that one death in a family is a tragedy.
To death and saved family is suspicious and three infant death in the same family should be considered as homicide until proven otherwise the big turning point in the case was when we received a phone call from Craig he wanted to have a talk about things Craig had told us that Kathleen continually became stressed with the.
Children and then finally he said my wife keeps a diary and they're suspicious entries in that wouldn't have handled another like Sarah she saved her life by being different stress Made Me Do terrible things got so bad I nearly purposely dropped her on the floor and left it what scares me.
Most would be when I'm alone with the baby Sarah all I wanted was that a shut up one day she did the hairs off the back of my neck the way I read it it could only be taken one way from that moment it was a murder investigation.
Kathy did you kill Caleb no did you kill no he tried to kill Patrick on that new Miss episode no did you kill Sarah and did you kill Laura no actually it was just so shocking to me and it was.
Adorning and realization that people have been saying things and people are really Kathleen fallbig was charged over her children's deaths and in 2003 her trial opened with huge media interest Kathleen Megan falby has pleaded not guilty to murdering the children the.
Crown says the accused smothered each of her children to death she either deliberately killed them or wanted to render them unconscious to in effect put them to sleep one of the most compelling aspects of the prosecution was the Craig the father of these children actually gave evidence against Kathleen.
Kathleen folby lost her temper with the children and struggled with motherhood the court also heard from a range of medical experts who disagreed over whether there were natural causes for the children's deaths and then there was a Smoking Gun Kathleen falbig's Diaries the Supreme Court heard today how a.
Woman accused of smothering her four children kept a diary detailing her dark moods she's a fairly good-natured baby thank goodness it has saved her from the fate of her siblings I think she was warned I feel like the worst mother on this Earth scared that she'll leave me now like.
Sarah did I knew I was short-tempered and cruel sometimes to her she left with a bit of help and that quote was that was a reference to God or become higher being or a higher power or something going on that I didn't understand the diary entries were presented to the jury as being admissions of guilt and.
Ultimately she was convicted on an entirely circumstantial case to the case of Kathleen fallbing found guilty of killing her four infant children Kathleen stood there and as the verdict was delivered she buckled and cried and it was absolutely awful to watch.
When the verdict was read out how did you feel smash Kathleen fallbig maintained her innocence and although her appeals were rejected questions started to be asked about the evidence that was used against her Emma kunliff was the first expert and.
Academic to seriously question the convictions when I reviewed the case I started from the position that the evidence had been strong but I now believe much of the evidence that had been introduced at trial was unreliable in fact the medical literature documented cases of natural.
Unexplained deaths in families three or more such deaths and since the time of the trial more cases have been documented in 2013 we came onto the scene and started our legal investigation into the case I had started the process of of writing to experts and the response was.
Extraordinary it's a 125 page report that you've written for us so I was asked to add a report by the Newcastle public interest Law Center and it took me the best part of 12 months it's certainly the longest report I've written Professor Stephen cordner is the former director of the Victorian Institute of forensic medicine.
He has a worldwide reputation as a forensic pathologist so I concluded that there was no evidence that any of the four foul big children had been killed let alone any evidence that they were smothered which was the allegation at the trial in 2015 fallbig's legal team lodged a petition that asked for her case to be.
Reviewed the cordner report was Central to that petition two successive attorney generals in New South Wales sat on that petition for three whole years it's clearly wrong that it took so long to make a decision to have an inquiry on the face of it that seems to be a serious failing.
you'd want to be doing it quicker than three years but in 2017 when I became attorney general I sought legal advice on the matter I then asked the governor in 2018 to or direct an inquiry it was presided over by the retired chief of the New South Wales District Court reg Blanche.
I've covered this story for the ABC and also outside the ABC for newspapers and in 2018 I produced an Australian story about her case which questioned her guilt we have here the sections of Laura's heart okay this is a times 200 magnification image.
So I became involved in this case when I received a phone call um in August 2018 from my lawyer Dave Wallace and he wondered whether there could be a genetic basis for the death of one or more of the children and he asked me to watch the Australian story program I think this is a eminently fatal case of.
Architis of course we can't say for sure I saw firsthand some of those images of the pathology of Laura's myocarditis I was intrigued I thought that there could be a genetic basis for that disease the The Coincidence was that just a few weeks before I had been referred a family in which there had been four neonatal deaths.
In children aged from 20 days to four months and we had found a genetic course for their deaths as Corolla vinois has started her research judicial inquiry was ordered and is centered on two main things the medical evidence and cancel involving's diary entries.
Kathleen falbig was invited to give evidence about her Diaries she was cross-examined for two and a half days 70 times she was challenged to admit that she had killed one or more of her children and 70 times she denied it no my Diaries are pretty much evident obvious that I'm constantly blaming.
Myself because knew that it was you and not no one else who had brought about the death of your children no because you killed them no as the inquiry progressed Corolla vinuesa and her team started genetic testing on Kathleen fulbig so we said that's a good place to start could be the mother it was easier to.
Access DNA from Miss fallbick herself and the lawyers appeared interested and they were happy to facilitate access to prison she found that there was a specific mutation a change in one particular Gene and that Gene was known to be involved in heart function and can cause sudden cardiac death.
It was discovered that the two girls shared this red gene mutation that she had but the two boys didn't I was quite excited it had been identified in any other individual in the world this is very likely cause of death of the Fall big children um either one or more of the children.
So at that point I thought it was very likely to change the case the inquiry will finish by the end of the week then the judge will prepare a report and decide whether it referred back to the court of criminal appeal towards the end of the inquiry it just happened that there had been a publication showing there had been.
Another family in Europe in which a child had died with a mutation in the exact same residue of Cal modeling so-called modeling is a protein that's important to regulate the rhythm of the heart now we thought that was a Smoking Gun ultimately Ridge Blanche didn't agree with Corolla venue Acer about the.
Significance of this new genetic evidence and he rejected Kathleen phobig's explanation for her diary entries convicted child killer Kathleen folbyg will remain Behind Bars after a special review of her case found she is guilty look I was frustrated I was confused I thought that the legal system had a had.
Some difficulties in understanding complex scientific evidence so what I felt is that science had not been heard that our scientific findings had not been given all the weight that they should have and I have to admit that that same day I went to.
The Australian Academy of Science the academy looked at the evidence and it was very strong and hard to fault that plus Professor Vanessa's passion about pursuing this project really got the academy right behind it but I also understood that perhaps additional evidence was necessary we only had predictions but we didn't have.
The definitive laboratory data we are we're a scientists at Alba University in Denmark and we both work in the overall field of kinetics in the laboratory we could reproduce the phobic protein the phobic mutation you can say it's an approaching called calmodulin and when we had this.
We could perform the tests and see that something was wrong person yeah modulin function you have a really high risk of causing the heart to stop so that means that you will die so certain cardiac arrest we could see this looked significant and it it might have a huge impact for the.
Fallback case So based on what we can see in the lab the mutation is the likely cause of the death of the two children I think the two boys died for other reasons the first boy was classically SIDS the second boy had a very bad case of epilepsy and Encephalitis and was in and.
Out of hospital for most of the year before he died now a group of almost 100 prominent scientists have sent a petition to the New South Wales Governor calling for folbig to be pardoned and freed from prison The Academy of Science is a very conservative organization and it was.
Very unusual for us to be able to get 90 of the leading researchers around the country expert in this area to unanimously and enthusiastically agree to sign this petition but the legal hierarchy sat on that petition for a year before Mark Speakman the then attorney general announced the second inquiry in.
April 2022 an inquiry is going to cost several million dollars but that's money worth spending if someone's Liberty and conviction are at stake but I had to get that right and get that legal advice to do that yesterday New South Wales attorney general Mark Speakman announced that there would be a new judicial.
Inquiry conducted by recently retired chief justice Tom Bathurst professors met nergard and Michael Toft Overgaard flew in from Denmark to help find the answer we came here to explain what we see from our scientific perspectives a major factor in this case was also the Diaries.
In this latest inquiry independent expert advice was sought from psychiatrists and psychologists three of us were engaged to examine the material and we all had pretty much the same opinion seemed it was more probable to me that the Diaries were an expression of grief rather than an admission of guilt.
It's quite natural for bereaved parents to feel responsible for the deaths of their children I don't think the Diaries were appropriately handled in the trial it surprised me that there wasn't a stronger voice to um to push forward these alternative explanations during earlier stages including in the initial.
Trial as the inquiry was wrapping up in the council assisting Sophie Callan was making her closing address there was a dramatic moment on the whole of the body of evidence before this inquiry there is a reasonable doubt as to the solvent's gift I thought that was the moment that.
I didn't quite believe I was going to uh witness it seems that the legal system in Australia had finally accepted that the science had to be looked at in detail and taken seriously the director of public prosecutions also acknowledges that new evidence makes it possible to conclude there is Reasonable Doubt.
with these acknowledgments of Reasonable Doubt Kathleen fallbig's supporters stepped up their campaign to have her pardoned and released a few weeks later the Attorney General called a press conference in the interest of Justice Ms Fabick should be released from custody as soon.
As possible week has now been pardoned I have to say you know we've got four little Barbers who are dead we've got a husband and wife who lost each other a woman who spent 20 years in jail and a family that never had a chance so you'd you'd not be human if you didn't feel.
Something about that wouldn't you I'm very very pleased she has been released I think it's taking a bit longer than we wished for but it's great news she's now free oh my God I think my reaction to the news.
Was really encapsulated by about time we need a better system for evaluating cases where there's a possibility of a wrong conviction I think what the case demonstrated was a terrible Gulf between scientists on the one hand and.
The legal fraternity on the other and I think that what comes out of that is is is is a real validation of scientific inquiry into cases like this and a salutary lesson to the judicial hierarchy that in future they have to take the science more seriously so Kelly has nothing and the least we can do is give her a.
Home we are in Kathy's Kitchen which um rather sad to say I believe it's about the signs of her cell that she has everything in at the moment I have of ten wondered how her life must have been in jail and in high security confinement for her own protection I.
Just don't know how anyone and her in particular could cope with this I just you know would love to get back to feeling like I've got my place in the world where I'm supposed to be.
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