Mom Has Convictions for Killing 4 Babies Quashed After 20 Years in Prison: 'I Suffered Abuse in All Its Forms'

Kathleen Folbigg was found guilty in 2003 of smothering her children — Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura — each before their second birthday

An appeals court in Australia quashed the convictions of a woman who was found guilty of killing her four babies 20 years earlier, according to multiple news reports.

“For almost a quarter of a century, I faced disbelief and hostility. I suffered abuse in all its forms. I hoped and prayed that one day I would be able to stand here with my name cleared,” Kathleen Folbigg said, per the Associated Press. “I am grateful that updated science and genetics have given me answers of how my children died.”

“The system preferred to blame me rather than accept that sometimes children can and do die suddenly, unexpectedly and heartbreakingly,” she said.

In June, New South Wales Attorney General Michael Daley said Folbigg had been granted an “unconditional pardon” based on the preliminary findings of a review into her conviction that had found “reasonable doubt” as to her guilt for all four deaths.

Folbigg was pardoned based on new scientific evidence that indicated her children may have died from natural causes, per ABC News.

“While the verdicts at trial were reasonably open on the evidence available, there is now reasonable doubt as to Ms. Folbigg’s guilt,” Chief Justice Andrew Bell said in a courtroom Thursday, per 9News. “It is appropriate Ms. Folbigg’s convictions ... be quashed.”

Related: Mom Convicted of Killing Her 4 Babies Pardoned After 20 Years in Jail

Folbigg was found guilty in 2003 of smothering her children — Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura — each before their second birthday. She reportedly found them, one after another, lifeless in their cribs.

She was sentenced to 40 years in prison for murder and manslaughter with a non-parole period of 30 years. That was reduced to 25 years after an appeal.

The four children died separately between 1989 and 1999. They were aged between 19 days and 19 months old.

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In 2021, a group of 90 scientists submitted a petition to pardon Folbigg for what they called "a miscarriage of justice."

"There is no medical evidence" to support the prosecution's case that Folbigg smothered each of the children, the scientists argued. Instead, the group said they believe that the babies may have died of genetic causes.

In 2018, geneticists found that both Sarah and Laura had a genetic mutation in the CALM2 gene, which can cause sudden death in infants and children, according to the petition.

Scientists are still working to determine if there are strong genetic links to the boys' deaths, pediatric geneticist Jozef Gecz told the Associated Press at the time.

An autopsy performed at the time of death showed that Patrick, who died at eight months, suffered from epilepsy. His death was attributed to airway obstruction due to a seizure and an infection, AP reported.

Caleb's death at just 19 days old was reported as sudden infant death syndrome.

In the petition, the scientists argued that Folbigg's conviction is based in part on the discredited theory coined "Meadow's Law," which assumes that the likelihood of more than two children from one family dying of genetic causes is so unlikely that there must be foul play involved.

However, Gecz — who works with children suffering rare and fatal disabilities and was one of the 90 experts to sign the petition — explained that this is no longer a scientifically supported theory.

Outside the court, Folbigg’s lawyer Rhanee Rego said her client would be asking for compensation, CNN reported.

“I’m not prepared to put a figure on it, but it will be bigger than any substantial payment that has been made before,” she said, per CNN.

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