FREE AT LAST

THE CONVICTED KILLER IS PARDONED AFTER TWO DECADES

- Sara Tapia

For 20 years, Kathleen Megan Folbigg has languished in jail, branded Australia’s worst female serial killer after being convicted of the unthinkable crime of killing her four infant children. But on June 5, she walked out of the gates of the Clarence Correctional Centre in Grafton a free woman to begin her new life out of the shadow of that terrible title. “I am so elated, it is not funny. And I am nervous and I’m everything,” Folbigg said to Nine News after her release. “I’m still like, ‘Is this even happening? Oh, my God.’”

After decades of Folbigg protesting her innocence, NSW Attorney General Michael Daley announced an unconditional pardon for the 55-year-old after receiving an advanced report on an inquiry into her convictions. “She has now been pardoned,” Daley said, having been given the recommendation by Hon Thomas Bathurst AC KC, who oversaw the recent inquiry. “Justice can ultimately be done even if it takes a long time.”

Folbigg has always insisted that her children, Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura – who were aged between 19 days and 19 months at the times of their deaths – passed away from natural causes. However, she was handed a 25-year minimum sentence after being found guilty in 2003 of three counts of murder and one of manslaughter.