The NSW Director of Public Prosecutions has accepted that new evidence has created reasonable doubt about Kathleen Folbigg’s convictions over the deaths of her four young children, an inquiry has heard.
Callan said that “in our submission, the weight of the expert evidence in the disciplines of cardiology and genetics is that the ... genetic variant is a reasonably possible cause of the sudden deaths of Sarah Folbigg and Laura Folbigg”.
“This also materially undermines the tendency and coincidence reasoning, giving rise to doubt as to Ms Folbigg’s guilt in relation to her first baby, Caleb Folbigg.”– a key plank of the prosecution’s circumstantial case that she smothered the children. No expert concluded the diaries contained clear admissions of criminal guilt.
“This casts Ms Folbigg’s expressions of guilt and responsibility for the deaths of her children in her diary and journal entries in a very different light,” Callan said.Credit:“Overall, this [expert] evidence undermines the probative value of the entries in the diaries and journals, tending to render them neutral, that is, neither inculpatory nor exculpatory.”
If Bathurst finds reasonable doubt, he may refer the case to the Court of Criminal Appeal to consider quashing Folbigg’s convictions. Previous cases suggest he also has the power to recommend a pardon, which could expedite her release from prison. “Put colloquially, it was asked, what are the chances a family would experience four separate cases of SIDS?” Callan said.
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