‘This is a victory for science and truth’: woman breaks silence after spending 20 years in prison for killing her children

Kathleen Folbigg, a woman freed 20 years after being convicted of killing four of her children in Australia, broke her silence after the authorities’ decision, celebrating “the victory of science and especially truth.”

“I am extremely happy and grateful for the pardon and release from prison. My eternal gratitude to my friends and family, especially Tracy and her entire family. Without them, I would not have survived this whole ordeal. The victory of science and, especially, the truth,” Kathleen began in a video message distributed by the international press.

“The last 20 years that I was in prison, I always thought and always will think about my children, I will always miss them,” the woman concluded.

Kathleen Folbigg was the mother of Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura. The children died between 1989 and 1999 when they were between 19 days and 18 months old. Initially, medical authorities claimed that death by asphyxiation was due to natural causes.

In the end, the woman was sentenced to 40 years for the death of three of her children and the manslaughter of a fourth, charges that the woman has always denied, after the police began to suspect Folbigg in the death of a fourth child.

However, everything has changed in 2020. A group of scientists led by Spanish immunologist Carola Garcia de Vinues and led by Dane Michael Toft Overgaard concluded that the death of Folbigg’s children may have genetic causes.

In addition, a study by an international team of 27 scientists found that children carry rare variants of a gene that, according to other studies, can cause the death of mice due to epileptic seizures.

Authorities in Australia have ordered a retrial of Folbigg’s case in 2022 after a team of scientists pointed to the possibility that the death was due to a rare genetic mutation.