Kathleen Folbigg, an Australian woman sentenced on appeal to 30 years in prison in 2003 on charges of killing her four children between 1989 and 1999, may be innocent: new scientific evidence, CNN reports today in a long article , in fact, indicate that the children may have died due to genetic defects inherited from the mother.
The woman, who is now 53 years old, was found guilty of killing her four babies by suffocating them in their sleep, because she could not bear their tears and their intrusion into her social life.
But Folbigg has always pleaded innocent to the deaths of Patrick (eight months old) in 1991, Sarah (11 months) in 1993 and Laura (19 months) in 1999. She was also found guilty of manslaughter in the case. of little son Caleb, who died in 1989 when he was only 19 days old.
Genomic testing now shows that at least two of the children have died from a previously unknown genetic mutation that led to heart complications - which means, CNN comments, that Folbigg may have been wrongfully incarcerated for nearly 20 years.
The discovery prompted 90 scientists - including two Australian Nobel laureates - to ask the governor of New South Wales to pardon Folbigg.
And if that happens, his case will go down in history as one of the worst judicial errors ever committed in Australia.
