Woman jailed for 18 years for killing babies may be innocent

Kathleen Folbigg has spent the last 18 years in an Australian prison for one of the most horrible crimes imaginable: the murder of her four babies.

However, new evidence suggests that this is not what happened. A genetic test shows, according to CNN, that two of the babies likely died of a genetic mutation, unknown at birth, that led to heart complications.

Also according to CNN, this discovery led 90 researchers to ask the governor of New South Wales to pardon Kathleen and release her.

In fact, the Australian has been wrongfully imprisoned for two decades and this could be one of the worst judicial errors in the history of the country.

Life marked by tragedy

From the beginning, Kathleen’s life was marked by tragedy. When he was 18 months old, his father stabbed his mother to death and served 15 years in prison for the murder until he was deported to the UK, where he was born.

From then on, Kathleen became a “troublesome” child with behavior problems. According to a doctor, who made a report to the court about the Australian, these types of reactions may indicate that she was abused by her father when she was just a baby.

The death of four children

In the late 1980s, Kathleen married Craig Folbigg, whom she met at a Newcastle nightclub. When he was only 21 years old, they had their first child, a boy named Caleb.

However, when the baby was only 19 days old, he died. The cause? Sudden infant death. According to the researchers, there was no evidence of any other cause.

Soon after, Kathleen became pregnant and, in 1990, she had Patrick. According to medical reports, the baby was “normal and healthy,” but at four months he had a seizure episode that left him with irreversible brain damage. At eight months, he ended up dying.

The Australian’s third daughter, Sarah, died at 10 months. Like Craig, the cause will have been SIDS, that is, sudden infant death syndrome.

It was only when her fourth daughter, Laura, died at 18 months in 1999 that the police began investigating Kathleen.

Suspicious of the death of his children, Craig filed for divorce. A short time later, he found Kathleen’s diary where, according to him, there was a note that caused him to “vomit.” On May 19, 1999, he handed over the notebook to the authorities.

Two years later, on April 19, 2001, Kathleen was charged with four crimes of homicide, according to statements by pediatrician Roy Meadow: “One sudden death is a tragedy, two are suspects and three are homicides, until proven otherwise” . what was written in the diary.

“I feel like the worst mother in the world, afraid that Laura will leave me like Sarah did. She knew he was grumpy and cruel to her at times and left, with a little help. […]. It cannot happen again. I am ashamed of myself. I can’t tell Craig because he won’t want to leave her with me, ”the convict will have written.

Although there is no strong evidence that Kathleen had killed her four children and has always denied the murders, the Australian was ultimately sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Now, after almost two decades, with the evolution of science, it has been concluded that a mutation in the SCN5A gene can cause sudden infant death syndrome and that, in 35% of cases, it can be explained by factors Genetic, or that is, it could eventually kill more than one child of the same mother.

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