3 months ago
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Kathleen Folbigg is set to receive $2 million in an “act of grace” payment from the NSW government after a high-profile inquiry led to her convictions over the deaths of her four young children being quashed by the state’s top court.
But her supporters say the figure is inadequate and indefensible in light of the decades she spent behind bars.
Kathleen Folbigg was pardoned in June 2023 and released after serving 20 years in prison over the deaths of her four children.Credit: Rhett Wyman
Folbigg was pardoned in June 2023 by the NSW governor and released from prison after serving 20 years of a minimum 25-year sentence over the deaths of her four children. She spent more than two years waiting for the government to make a decision about an ex gratia payment.
Her release was triggered by a landmark inquiry that concluded genetic evidence cast reasonable doubt about her guilt over her children’s sudden deaths in infancy and early childhood.
Her convictions – three counts of murder and one of manslaughter – were formally quashed in December 2023.
Folbigg’s longtime solicitor, Rhanee Rego, said in a statement: “This is profoundly unfair and unjust.
“The sum offered is a moral affront – woefully inadequate and ethically indefensible.
“The system has failed Kathleen Folbigg once again. Kathleen lost her four children; she lost 20 of the best years of her life; and she continues to feel the lasting effects of this ongoing trauma.
“The payment does not reflect the extent of the pain and suffering Kathleen has endured. This should be about the system recognising the significance of what it did to her.
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“An inquiry is urgently needed to understand how the Government decided on this figure. When Lindy Chamberlain was exonerated in 1994, she received $1.7 million [$1.3 million plus legal costs] for three years in prison.
“Kathleen Folbigg spent two decades in prison, yet for her wrongful imprisonment she has been offered $2 million.
“Kathleen Folbigg’s fight should be over. After being failed at her conviction and abused in prison, she is now being treated with contempt by the very system that should be making amends.”
NSW Greens MP Sue Higginson, a member of the state’s upper house and the party’s justice spokesperson, said the figure was “a shocking and insulting offer from Labor Premier Chris Minns, to the woman who was failed in the most incomprehensible way by the state he leads”.
“I’m astounded at the lack of reason, financial accounting, reflection and empathy this offer represents,” Higginson said.
She said $2 million “barely covers what Kathleen could have earned on a full-time salary over 20 years”.
“Kathleen has not only lost 20 years of wages, she has lost her four children, her home and her employability. She has racked up legal costs fighting her wrongful conviction, she has lost her superannuation, and she has been the victim of one of the worst injustices in this state’s history - wrongful imprisonment,” Higginson said.
More to come.
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