‘20 years of time taken’: Folbigg’s compensation push

Kathleen Folbigg is pushing to be compensated for the 20 years she “missed out on” behind bars over the deaths of her four children following an inquiry that cleared her name.

Ms Folbigg spent two decades in prison after she was found guilty of causing the deaths of her four children.

Patrick (eight months), Laura (10 months), Sarah (19 months) and Caleb (19 days) all died suddenly, with none of them reaching their second birthday.

After being jailed in 2003, a 2023 inquiry into the deaths raised reasonable doubt that the Folbigg children could have died due to natural causes or a rare genetic mutation.

While Ms Folbigg was released from prison in June 2023, she’s now pushing for compensation over the time she’s missed.

However, she admitted she was unsure what 20 years of her life was “worth” while speaking on Sunrise on Monday morning.

“For a sad reason I am a unique case,” Ms Folbigg told Sunrise.

“There is no precedence when it comes to my sort of case, so that is something that will have to be worked out by people who have bigger brains than I do. We will just have to see what happens.

“For me it is all about just wanting to get this finalised and finished and complete the circle for me. I was 35 or 34 when this all started and I have had so much that I haven’t got to do now for the last 20 years that I have missed out on. I think the message basically is that has to be righted.”

Ms Folbigg and her lawyer, Rhanee Rego, have put forth a submission to the NSW government detailing what she has “suffered” over the last two decades, with Ms Rego calling it “harrowing”.

“What we have done is we have submitted words of what she has suffered over the last 20 years. It is harrowing to read,” Ms Rego said.

“We need to take into account 20 years of time taken away from Kathleen. Twenty years not being able to talk about her kids in jail for fear of being hurt. Twenty years sleeping with one eye open.

“Every time she meets someone she has to think, ‘Do these people think I’m Australia’s worst serial killer?’ How do you compensate for 20 years lost?”

Ms Rego said it was not about making Ms Folbigg’s life “comfortable” with material means but about the “state paying for their own mistakes”.

“We are asking Premier Minns, let us all move on and let this woman have her life back,” she said.

A spokesperson for NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley said it wasn’t appropriate to comment on individual requests.

“It is not appropriate to comment on whether or not an individual request for an ex gratia payment has been made. Every application is considered on its own facts and in its own context,” the spokesperson said.

Life has been “very hectic” for Ms Folbigg since she was released from jail, with the 57-year-old still adjusting to life outside a cell.

“Yes, it has been pretty hectic. I just 18 months later have managed to have a breath and go, ‘OK, you have got this’,” she said.

She said she still struggled with being able to step out after a certain point in the afternoon after being locked in a cell.

“When people say, ‘Would you like to come out after a certain hour?’ Instead of saying, ‘I am good at home’, I am getting used to it,” she said.

New expert medical evidence published in March 2021 revealed that Ms Folbigg’s children Sarah and Laura carried the CALM2 genetic mutation, which could cause cardiac problems, irregular heartbeats and lead to sudden death.

This fatal genetic variant would not have been investigated at the time of the children’s deaths because it was not discovered by medical scientists until years later, the inquiry was told.

Former NSW chief justice Tom Bathurst KC, who led the inquiry, found Ms Folbigg shared the same genetic mutation as her daughters.

Experts concluded Patrick had likely died due to a brain injury suffered during an epileptic seizure, but they were unable to determine the cause of Caleb’s death.

In his report, Mr Bathurst determined there was an “identifiable cause” of three of the children’s deaths and no direct evidence that Ms Folbigg killed her children.

The Court of Criminal Appeal Justices were satisfied that the jury’s verdict should be put aside following the report, concluding the “substantial and extensive body of new scientific evidence” had created “reasonable doubt” about Ms Folbigg’s guilt.